course objective | course development
The Safer Surgery Saves Lives Nursing Course (SSSL) is designed to address the universal need to practice safe surgery and provide safe patient care. CNIS recognizes that this multi-faceted issue requires cooperation and partnership with all members of the perioperative team, in which the nurse plays an integral role. With the advent of the WHO’s Safe Surgery Saves Lives (SSSL) initiative, CNIS proposed constructing a perioperative nursing workshop to fit within the outline of the SSSL checklist.
Course objective
The course introduces the perioperative nurse participants to the idea of a culture of safety within their operating rooms, gathering information about local perioperative practice problems, and identifying potential leaders for future educational initiatives. SSSL Nursing course introduces, reviews, and reinforces the idea of a culture of safety, which the perioperative nursing participants can achieve within their operating rooms. The value and importance of safe practices for both patients and personnel is emphasized. Using the WHO SSSL Checklist, universal patient safety issues, which can be addressed at the time of surgery, are identified and ways in which these principles can be applied in any setting are identified.
Course development
An exploratory workshop was held in Vancouver in 2008, followed by two 2-day workshops at the Black Lion Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in April 2009, facilitated by CNIS and Vancouver perioperative nurse educator Genelle Leifso. The workshops offered encouragement to the local nursing leaders, assisted with case study development and suggested strategies to foster more interactive learning amongst the participants. Participants were divided into groups and learning occurred through interactive presentations and skill sessions, with the groups sharing their clinical situations and solutions with each other. In Dec 2009, a nursing forum was held in Vancouver to further expand these concepts.
The SSSL Nursing Manual is currently being written.
