Minnesota Hospital Association

Quality & Patient Safety

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Quality & Patient Safety

Surgery and Procedures

Millions of surgeries and procedures are performed yearly at Minnesota’s hospitals and health systems and surgery centers. MHA and its member hospitals have developed tools to enhance patient safety during surgeries and procedures. Hospitals and health systems use these tools to create a culture of safety across the state.

MHA has developed a surgery and procedure road map and a venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention strategies gap analysis outlining evidence-based recommendations and standards for the development of prevention and quality improvement programs that align process improvements with outcome data. Road maps reflect published literature and guidance from relevant professional organizations and regulatory agencies, as well as identified proven practices.

MHA members can log in to the website at the top-right corner of this page to view the surgery and procedure and specimen management in the operating room road maps. 

Webinars

Time Out Surgical Checklist toolkit

The MHA Time Out Surgical Checklist aims to reduce wrong surgical site and wrong procedure events by providing a standardized yet customizable checklist that reflects local practice and culture. There are process checks to remind team members to verify, perform and discuss critical patient safety steps. There are also conversation prompts that remind team members to discuss important information about the patient, risks and surgical plans so everyone on the team has the same information before the case begins. An example of this is the culture statement, which is a carefully drafted statement—expressed by the surgeon—that is designed to encourage surgery staff to speak up about any potential concerns they may have about the case. All the resources and materials in the toolkit are designed to support hospitals in developing and implementing a Time Out Surgical Checklist.

Time Out Surgical Checklist brand materials