What if a Pilot was Too Busy for the Checklist? Emergency Department Safety and the Timeout Process

The elimination of wrong procedure, wrong site, and wrong patient events is a primary patient safety goal of medical institutions. Emergency departments are fast-paced, high-acuity environments in which frequent changes of personnel, consultations from a variety of other hospital services, and the need for urgent diagnostic and therapeutic procedures occur. The objective of this article is to illustrate the value of the timeout process for invasive procedures occurring in pediatric patients in the emergency department setting. Case studies will demonstrate the potential pitfalls that can result if a timeout process is not in place.