Abstract

Incorrect surgical counts and retained surgical items are preventable errors that compromise patient safety. The literature suggests that surgical counts may be affected by multiple variables. This capstone project sought to exclusively explore the influence of education on incorrect surgical counts in the operating room. Thirteen surgical staff members at a Midwest regional hospital participated in this project. Every staff member possessed previous knowledge and experience with how counts were performed and have executed this task with great frequency. Reinforcement of pre-operative and post-operative surgical count education was conducted with the intended outcome of reducing incorrect count percentages. To assess the impact of this intervention, the capstone project analyzed incorrect count percentages prior to education and after education over an eight-week time frame. The deficit in knowledge was assessed by a six-question survey given to the general surgical team before the presentation. A post-education survey and gap analysis tool was given after the presentation to assess what the staff knew about the hospital's counting policy and procedure. Stagnant percentages before and after the education intervention revealed that education alone does not impact incorrect counts. However, findings do suggest that education increases a participant's confidence in their count policy and helps define clear roles of the team during the counting process.

Author Details

Mary Claire Li BSN, RN and Valerie Anderson, DNP

Sigma Membership

Non-member

Lead Author Affiliation

Nebraska Methodist College, Omaha, Nebraska, USA

Type

DNP Capstone Project

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Other

Research Approach

Translational Research/Evidence-based Practice

Keywords:

Retained Surgical Items, Incorrect Surgical Counts, Education, Patient Safety, Operating Rooms

Advisor

Anderson, Valerie

Second Advisor

Kindschuh, Alice

Degree

DNP

Degree Grantor

Nebraska Methodist College

Degree Year

2022

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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Review Type

Faculty Approved: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Self-submission

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