gms | German Medical Science

Background: Organisational and cultural barriers and drivers can have considerable impact on the implementation of new clinical care processes. In the context of the international “High 5s” patient safety project, we evaluated the role of these factors in the introduction of an evidence-based, standard operating procedure (SOP) for the prevention of wrong site surgery in the preoperative hospital setting in Germany.

Objectives: We assessed implementation obstacles and enablers for this patient safety SOP in order to gain a better understanding for critical success factors of implementation processes and to develop future strategies for timely and effective implementation of similar protocols.

Methods: A standardised questionnaire comprising 57 questions addressing barriers and drivers associated with the steps of implementation and components of the SOP was administered online to the project coordinators in 16 project hospitals.

Results: We received answers from 9 hospitals. Resistance to change, lack of resources and deficient communication were named as the most common challenges during the implementation process. Important drivers were leadership support, training and education, staff involvement and improved communication. The full study results will be presented at the conference.

Discussion and implications: Our analysis confirms that relevant implementation barriers exist when introducing new practice in a hospital setting, but that these can be overcome with a targeted multifaceted intervention strategy encompassing locally successful drivers. These results coincide with research findings from guideline implementation studies which indicate that the implementation strategy should be specifically and locally tailored to address previously identified barriers to change.