A preprocedure checklist written collaboratively by charge nurses from Mayo Clinic’s gastrointestinal endoscopy and medical care units significantly reduced the number of canceled and rescheduled procedures and enhanced staff communication and satisfaction during a pilot study.
The Mayo Clinic team compared procedure cancellations and other factors before and after implementation of the checklist in a study published in Gastroenterology Nursing (2019;42[1]:79-83). They found that of 25 endoscopy procedures scheduled during the pre-pilot period, six were rescheduled and five were canceled, leaving only 14 procedures completed. In the comparative post-pilot period, 42 of 51 scheduled procedures were performed, with 10 not completed (eight rescheduled, two canceled). Nineteen more procedures were added to the schedule and completed during the pilot period, for a 21% total increase in endoscopy procedure completions.