Development and Feasibility Testing of a Device Briefing Tool and Training to Improve Patient Safety During Introduction of New Devices in Operating Rooms: Best Practices and Lessons Learned.

Background: Introducing new surgical devices into the operating room (OR) can serve as a critical opportunity to address patient safety. The effectiveness of OR briefings to improve communication, teamwork, and safety has not been evaluated in this setting.

Methods: Ariadne Labs and Johnson and Johnson (J&J) collaborated to develop and assess an intervention including a Device Briefing Tool (DBT) and novel multidisciplinary team training for clinicians (surgeons and nurses) around the introduction of a new device in the OR. J&J sales representatives trained clinicians to use the DBT, a communication tool to improve patient safety when a new device is used for the first time. Surveys were administered to representatives (n = 10), surgeons (n = 15), and nurses (n = 30) at the baseline, after trainings, and after using the DBT in an operation at six different Thai hospitals.

Results: Familiarity with the Surgical Safety Checklist (SURGICAL SAFETY CHECKLIST) varied but increased post-training. Regarding trainings, 90% of representatives felt they very much or completely met all learning objectives but 50% felt only slightly prepared to train clinicians on using DBT. Post-training, clinician confidence in using a new device rose from 47 to 85%. Regarding the DBT, 90% of clinicians felt confident using it and reported they were very likely to use it in the future. Overall, over 90% of all clinicians and representatives felt safe having surgery in their hospitals.

Conclusions: There is high acceptability and feasibility of the multidisciplinary trainings and the DBT among representatives and clinicians, albeit in a limited number of participants from a small number of institutions.