Prevalence and Characteristics of Interruptions and Distractions During Surgical Counts.

Background: Surgical counting is a complex and safety-critical task that requires sustained attention by multiple members of the surgical team in order to prevent the occurrence of an unintentionally retained foreign object. Interruptions and distractions in the operating room are common and can negatively affect task performance. However, the prevalence and sources of interruptions and distractions during safety-critical tasks, such as surgical counting, have not previously been quantified.

Evaluations for New Healthcare Environment Commissioning and Operational Decision Making Using Simulation and Human Factors: A Case Study of an Interventional Trauma Operating Room.

Purpose: The aim of this article is to provide a case study example of the preopening phase of an interventional trauma operating room (ITOR) using systems-focused simulation and human factor evaluations for healthcare environment commissioning.

Background: Systems-focused simulation, underpinned by human factors science, is increasingly being used as a quality improvement tool to test and evaluate healthcare spaces with the stakeholders that use them. Purposeful real-to-life simulated events are rehearsed to allow healthcare teams opportunity to identify what is working well and what needs improvement within the work system such as tasks, environments, and processes that support the delivery of healthcare services.

Community paramedic point of care testing: validity and usability of two commercially available devices.

Background: Community Paramedics (CPs) require access to timely blood analysis in the field to guide treatment and transport decisions. Point of care testing (POCT), as opposed to laboratory analysis, may offer a solution, but limited research exists on CP POCT. The purpose of this study was to compare the validity of two devices (Abbott i-STAT® and Alere epoc®) by CPs in the community.

The evolution of a purpose designed hybrid trauma operating room from the trauma service perspective: the RAPTOR (Resuscitation with Angiography Percutaneous Treatments and Operative Resuscitations).

Traumatic injury is the leading cause of potentially preventable lost years of life in the Western world and exsanguination is the most potentially preventable cause of post-traumatic death. With mature trauma systems and experienced trauma centres, extra-abdominal sites, such as the pelvis, constitute the most frequent anatomic site of exsanguination. Haemorrhage control for such bleeding often requires surgical adjuncts most notably interventional radiology (IR).