Table 3

Number of surgical procedures observed and characteristics of time-out interactions

	n	N	%
Hospital
Hospital 1	80	107	75
Hospital 2	18	107	17
Hospital 3	9	107	8
Urgency of procedure
Elective	100	107	93
Emergency	7	107	7
Type of anaesthetic
General anaesthesia	84	107	78
Sedation	17	107	16
Local anaesthetic	4	107	4
Epidural	2	107	2
Time-out procedure
Complete	11	107	10
Incomplete	91	107	85
Not conducted	5	107	5
Patient participation in time out
Yes	0	102	0
No	107	102	100
Time-out timing
Before incision or scope insertion	93	102	91
After incision or scope insertion	9	102	9
Component of time out not completed*
No anaesthetist contribution	91	102	76
Verbal and visual confirmation of surgical site	50	102	42
No surgeon contribution	33	102	32
Verbal confirmation of procedure	4	102	4
Healthcare discipline involved in time out
Surgeon and nurse	51	102	50
Nurse and nurse	35	102	34
Anaesthetist, surgeon and nurse	12	102	12
Theatre technician and nurse	4	102	4
Reason for non-compliance with time-out policy*
No announcement of time out/other team members unaware of time-out procedure	96	102	94
Healthcare professional busy completing other tasks	93	102	91
Healthcare professional not in theatre at the time of time out	12	102	12
Forgotten	5	102	5
Declined invitation to participate	3	102	3
Multitasking by healthcare professionals during time out
Yes	7	102	7
No	95	102	93
Interruptions to healthcare professionals performing time out
Yes	10	102	10
No	92	102	90
Activities healthcare professionals engaged in when not involved in time out^†
Intubating or assisting with intubation	71	102	70
Attaching equipment to patient	65	102	64
Instrument counts or equipment checks	61	102	60
Setting up instruments or equipment	60	102	59
Talking to colleagues in theatre	27	102	26
Not present in theatre	14	102	14
Type of communication failure*
Content	87	96	91
Purpose	4	96	4
Audience	91	96	95
Occasion	7	96	7
Consequences of communication failure at time out*
Missing information in communication	38	96	40
Confusion in clinical practice	17	96	18
Inefficiency in work practice	15	96	15
Rushing in work	10	96	10
Patient consequences such as delays and rescheduling of surgery	8	96	8
Wasted resources	3	96	3
Tension between individuals	2	96	2

*Components do not add up to 100% as multiple categorisations were possible.
†Healthcare professionals included anaesthetist, surgeon, circulating nurse, instrument nurse and anaesthetic nurse.
n, the number of procedures related to the different variables listed; N, the total number of procedures observed.