Journal of perioperative practice
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There will be few perioperative students (nursing, ODP) or surgical and anaesthetic trainees, who will not have heard of the tragic case of Mrs Elaine Bromiley. A 37 year old mother of two, admitted for an elective endoscopic sinus surgery and septoplasty, Elaine suffered major complications during the induction of general anaesthesia that resulted in her death due to hypoxic brain damage (Harmer 2005).
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Preoperative briefings and the 'time out' component of the WHO surgical safety checklist offer unique opportunities to improve the technical and non-technical skills of surgical trainees. The addition of a training briefing--a succinct adjunct to these processes--offers a novel method by which training opportunities can be maximised and learning needs better understood by theatre staff. However, more training is needed for staff in the use of briefings and checklists to achieve the best possible benefit for trainees and patients.