Checklists have been instituted in many sectors to help streamline processes. They are there to make things easier and bring peace of mind by eliminating forgotten aspects of a procedures. Surgery is no different. The surgical checklist is vital to the delivery of safe surgery around the world, however, checklist implementation involves changing minds, operating room culture, and the dreaded word – paperwork. However, “leadership is more important than resources. If you change your mind you can change every environment. The difference is inside of the head of the people.” Surgical checklists save lives. One doesn’t want to be having an emergency in the midst of an emergency due to lack of planning or a skipped step. Everything needs to be ready exactly as is needed at its time of utilization. Join us in this incredible episode as we talk with Dr. Adriana Serna about initiatives to institute surgical checklists in Colombia and other Latin American countries and how to empower members of the surgical team to speak up and participate in making this life saving practice a routinely used item!
Dr Adriana Serna: General-Thoracic Surgeon, LifeBox’s Surgical Safety Checklist in Colombia
Colombia
“Empowering the surgical team. Mortality, economics and surgical impacts. Psychological shifts”
Dr Adriana Serna is a General & Thoracic Surgeon based in the suburbs of Bogotá, Colombia, and a wife and mother of a great child. She trained at Javeriana University as General surgeon and El bosque University as Thoracic, and currently work at Clínica de Marly.
Knowledge is the key to progress and that is why she works to disseminate it whenever possible. She has led Lifebox’s Checklist implementation work in Central America and is currently working on leading TOTs in the region on a workshop on the COVID-19 Surgical Patient Checklist which provides prompts for key infection prevention steps to help keep surgical providers safe.
Dr Serna’s other vocation is to the early detection and intervention for Lung cancer. She spends her time out of work trying to spread messages that invite the general population to improve their habits. She dreams about a healthy next generation, free from cigarrettes and breathing a new air. That is why today she leads a team formed by thoracic surgeons, pulmonologists, oncologists, radiologists and pathologists, all of us working for the implementation of a screening program for lung cancer in Colombia.