10 Years In, Why Time Out Still Matters

New Strategies to Assert the Value of the Perioperative Nurse

“…In 2013, The Joint Commission reported 109 sentinel events 21 . Factors contributing to wrong‐site surgery include time pressures related to an unusual start time or pressure to speed up the preoperative procedures 22 . As a new perioperative nurse, I find it alarming that the number of reported sentinel events, although currently declining, is twice as high as it was in 2003 21 .…”

“…In the surgical setting, the perioperative nurse realizes that, although each member of the surgical team is essential to the overall procedure, duties can become task focused. According to one surgeon speaking about the time‐out process, “It is easy for practitioners to be distracted by the next task, thereby giving only cursory attention to the task at hand.” 22(p788) As a new nurse, I understand that once in the OR, it is easy to experience the flurry of activity involved in positioning, prepping, and draping the patient along with connecting equipment that can make us become very task focused. Pressures from surgeons and physician assistants can add to the sometimes overwhelming urge to rush through the time‐out process to start the procedure on time.…”