Surgical Checklist Initiative
“A System for Safer Surgery”
The SCOAP surgical safety checklist is an example of how SCOAP engages healthcare professionals in active change to improve the way healthcare is delivered. Generous support from the Life Sciences Discovery Fund and Aetna has helped finance this initiative.
The Surgical Care Outcomes Assessment Program (SCOAP) is a unique, clinician-led, voluntary collaborative that links hospitals and surgeons with clinicians from across the state to increase the use of best practices in surgical care. SCOAP’s goal is to provide the kind of surveillance of procedures and response to negative outcomes that exists in the world of aviation.
SCOAP has produced a safety and quality checklist for the OR which is rolling out in all hospitals in Washington State. The checklist is used at the start of surgery as part of an extended "time out" and after surgery as part of a debriefing. The SCOAP OR Surgical Checklist, which goes beyond the JCAHO "time out" concept, guarantees that vital steps to a successful procedure are carried out and reinforces a culture of patient safety. A coalition of healthcare stakeholders is supporting the initiative’s goal of having a SCOAP checklist in every OR at every hospital in Washington State by the end of 2009.
The SCOAP checklist is an active way of controlling the variability that exists in surgical care thus creating a system that delivers safer surgery.
How You Can Help
SCOAP is a grassroots initiative and we rely on the support of stakeholders who are interested in improving the health of Washington State to make this initiative happen. We rely on interested volunteers to encourage their local hospitals to participate in the checklist initiative. To find a hospital near you and whether they participate in SCOAP go to our list of participating hospitals. If your hospital is not participating, contact the hospital leadership and tell them you want them to participate.
The SCOAP checklist initiative also benefits from partners and advocacy groups that seek to advance the vision for safer and higher quality surgical care. We accept donations through the Foundation for Healthcare Quality (a 501(c)3 designated non-profit) as well as donations of in-kind materials and support. The SCOAP checklist initiative is currently seeking sponsors to defray costs or offer services for:
- checklist production/reproduction
- hanging materials for the checklist across hospitals
- media events related to promotion of the checklist initiative
- organizational support for local checklist initiative events across the state and in your communities
Pilot Hospitals and Supporting Organizations
SCOAP applauds the commitment to constantly improving patient safety by these pilot hospitals who have agreed to be part of the rollout of the surgical safety checklist initiative:
Central Washington Hospital
Evergreen Hospital Medical Center
The Everett Clinic Kemp and Trask Surgery Centers
Ocean Beach Hospital
Peace Health St. John Medical Center
Sacred Heart Medical Center
Seattle Children's
Skagit Valley Hospital
Sunnyside Community Hospital
Swedish Medical Center
University of Washington Medical Center
Virginia Mason Medical Center
The following hospitals are working to start the checklist initiative by January 1, 2009: Sacred Heart Medical Center and Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.
