Problem Statement- Anesthesia providers provide critical care to patients during surgery. This
care routinely lacks a standardized anesthesia checklist which leads to variations in practice that
can cause preventable errors. A review of the charts at Franciscan Health Crown Point
shows greater than 20% incident of missing anesthesia consent and antibiotics. Further
discussion with the anesthesia providers confirmed an increase in the number of missed
preoperative components. Purpose- The project attempted to highlight the importance of
implementation of a customized checklist with aims to increase utilization with hopes of
eliminating of variances. Method- This was a quality improvement project with a pre/post
implementation survey. The project also involved a chart review and utilization of a customized
anesthesia checklist use for a month. The data was analyzed to find percentage change.
Interventions included a slideshow presentation and physical checklist that the anesthesia
providers would use during the implementation phase. Results- Pre- to post-implementation
surveys showed increase in percentage change of all the aims. Anesthesia checklist utilization
increased by 12.5%. Additionally, 10% of Anesthesia providers reported that the checklist
helped them remember frequently missed items. One month following project intervention 15.6
% of the anesthesia providers acknowledged the importance of using the anesthesia checklist. A
final chart review showed that no items were missed during the implementation of this project.
Implications- The use of the anesthesia checklist encouraged a standardized approach to
enhance anesthesia providers’ communication by ensuring the completion of essential items. The
use of anesthesia checklist prevents potential issues that can lead to delays and increase patient
anxiety.