Checklist Enhances Clinical Information Exchange among Anesthesia Team

​Use of a checklist to facilitate information exchange among the anesthesia team before induction was associated with significant improvement in some measures but not in overall clinical performance, according to a study in the October 2015 Anesthesia & Analgesia. The authors tested the preinduction checklist with 105 teams and compared their performance to 100 teams who did not use the checklist. Their performance was measured in five areas: information exchange, knowledge of critical information, team members' perceptions of safety, team members' perception of teamwork, and clinical performance. The most dramatic difference was seen in the exchange of clinical information, where 100% of teams using the checklist shared the 12 pieces of information it covered, compared to only 33% of teams sharing that information without the checklist.