Nurse helps to draw up safety checklist (From Thisisdorset)

Nurse helps to draw up safety checklist

11:04am Friday 27th June 2008 in

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A WEYMOUTH nurse is playing a major role in a campaign to revolutionise surgical safety standards around the world.

Jane Reid has been working with the World Health Organisation in drawing up a new safety checklist for medical staff to carry out before surgical procedures.

Medical experts are claiming the measures could have a major impact on safety standards for patients and potentially prevent hundreds of deaths.

Mrs Reid, from Redlands, is president of the Association for Perioperative Practice, which works to improve the standard of care of patients before and after hospital procedures.

She said: "I was invited by the World Health Organisation to act as temporary nurse adviser. As one of four nurses from around the world we collaborated to help develop a checklist to use across the globe."

Mrs Reid, 45, who started out her nursing career at Weymouth and District Hospital, says she had always been keen to stress the importance of patient safety.

She started working with the WHO around two years ago and she will now be leading the Patient Safety First campaign as it spreads the message around the country as well as liaising with organisations overseas.

She said: "I will be working with a team of people to implement this in England over the next two years and working abroad to support developing health economies.

"It's funny to think a local nurse is now working internationally."

The UK is one of the first countries to implement the checklist, which the WHO hopes to have operating in 2,500 hospitals worldwide by the end of next year.

It provides a simple list of steps surgical teams must go through every time a patient goes under the knife.

Mrs Reid says the most significant impact of the new measures in this country will be to open up avenues of communication between medical staff to prevent misunderstandings or surgical errors that could have a potentially fatal consequence.

"In the UK we have many of these checks in place already in some shape or form. What we don't do routinely is the pre-procedure briefing and then de-brief.

"These will enhance the culture of safety in the operating room."

Mrs Reid, who is also a Dean at Bournemouth University's school of health and social care, said it was this lack of communication that led to surgical mishaps such as the infamous example in Wales two years ago when a patient had the wrong kidney removed.

She said: "The situation was analysed and the tragic fact was the student nurse and medical student knew it was wrong but they were not embraced within the team and were unable to make themselves heard.

"We can do more to improve teamwork and effective communications in the operating room and this initiative will facilitate it."