Let the EHR Talk Loudly: An EHR-Connected Verbal Surgical Safety Checklist for Medical Procedures in the Intensive Care Unit

Objectives The purpose of this study was to test the accuracy and user acceptance of an electronic health records (EHR)-connected verbal surgical safety checklist in the intensive care unit (ICU). Methods An EHR-connected verbal checklist software was deployed in our ICU between January 2019 and June 2019. The software, loaded on a mobile tablet, loudly verbalized clinical information from the EHR in the form of a time-out checklist. The accuracy of the information delivered was compared with up-to-date clinical data in the EHR in 300 patients. User acceptance was assessed using survey instruments. Results The software accurately verbalized patient demographics in 100% (300/300) of tested cases. Concordance rates with real-time values in the EHR for the following variables were calculated: allergies 98.6% (296/300), international normalized ratio 97.6% (293/300), and platelets 91.6% (275/300). Surveys showed that 41.2% (7/17) of users preferred current standard EHR time-outs, 17.6% (3/17) preferred verbalization software, 35.3% (6/17) preferred neither, and 5.9% (1/17) wanted both. When asked if EHR-connected verbalization software should officially replace the current standard EHR checklists, 76.5% (13/17) supported the idea. Conclusions An EHR-connected verbal surgical safety checklist software can leverage information in the EHR to help with workflow and patient safety. This study shows that the software can verbally deliver clinical information with great accuracy and that most ICU staff would support replacing current time-out processes.