Simulation to Test Hard-Stop Implementation of a Pre-anesthetic Induction Checklist

Checklists have been shown to reduce patient complications, improve communication in the operating room, and improve the management of simulated operating room crises. Using a randomized, controlled, observer-blinded design, we compared performance of anesthesiology residents in a simulated operating room using a checklist in completing a thorough pre-anesthetic induction evaluation and setup, to residents with no checklist. The checklist was implemented through a "hard stop" in the simulated electronic medical record. Data for 24 CA-1 residents show a statistically significant difference in performance in pre-anesthetic setup and evaluation as scored by blinded raters, with the checklist group performing better.