Developing and Assessing Electronic Checklists for Safety Mindfulness, Workload and Performance

Publication date: Available online 10 May 2018
Source:Practical Radiation Oncology
Author(s): Gregg S. Tracton, Lukasz M. Mazur, Prithima Mosaly, Lawrence B. Marks, Shiva Das
PurposeTo i) propose set of innovative principles for effective design of electronic checklists to enhance safety mindfulness (a specific safety mindful mindset that offers the opportunity of operating more preemptively during routine QA tasks), and ii) discuss some of our preliminary results from testing our proposed electronic checklist with dosimetrists and physicists.Methods and materialsA multidisciplinary team designed, developed, and evaluated the utility of the electronic checklist (vs. paper-based checklist) to promote safety mindfulness. Subjective workload was measured at the end of each assessment/scenario. Performance was quantified based on discovery of purposefully embedded errors, time-to-complete the scenario, and additional concerns documented by the participants.ResultsUse of the electronic checklist was associated with decreases in time-to-scenario completion (p<0.01), increases in documentation of additional patient safety and plan quality concerns (p=0.04), but had no significant impact on recognition of purposefully embedded errors or perceptions of workload.ConclusionOur proposed principles for design of electronic checklists may improve the efficiency of QA procedures, while enhancing users' safety mindfulness. Future research is needed to better understand the utility of our proposed design principles on patient safety from a long-term use.



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