Barriers to the implementation of checklists in the office-based procedural setting.

Checklists are an important patient safety intervention in surgery, but existing research has examined their effectiveness only for hospital-based procedures. Although the rate of serious errors in office-based procedures is likely fairly low, safety practices are not standardized in this setting. This survey found that only half of offices performing procedures (which included plastic surgery, gastroenterology, gynecology, and dentistry offices) utilized any type of safety checklist. The main barriers to using checklists were lack of a regulatory mandate and insufficient evidence supporting their effectiveness in this area. A past AHRQ WebM&M commentary discussed a serious error that occurred after a liposuction procedure performed in a plastic surgery office.