Certified Surgical Technologist Patient Safety and Surgical Counts 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The Universal Protocol for preventing wrong-site surgery was established by which organization?
- WHO
- AORN
- The Joint Commission (Correct answer)
- AST
Correct answer: The Joint Commission
The Joint Commission introduced the Universal Protocol in 2004 to prevent wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-person surgery.
Question 2: What three elements does the surgical 'time-out' verify before incision?
- Patient identity, correct site, and correct procedure (Correct answer)
- Equipment sterilization, anesthesia dosage, and instrument count
- Surgeon credentials, patient allergies, and blood type
- Consent form, lab results, and imaging
Correct answer: Patient identity, correct site, and correct procedure
The time-out confirms the correct patient, correct surgical site, and correct procedure to prevent sentinel events before the incision is made.
Question 3: The WHO Surgical Safety Checklist is divided into how many phases?
- Two
- Three (Correct answer)
- Four
- Five
Correct answer: Three
The WHO checklist has three phases: Sign In (before anesthesia), Time Out (before incision), and Sign Out (before patient leaves OR).
Question 4: Surgical site marking should be performed by:
- The scrub technologist at setup
- The circulating nurse on admission
- The operating surgeon before the procedure (Correct answer)
- The anesthesiologist during induction
Correct answer: The operating surgeon before the procedure
The performing surgeon is responsible for marking the operative site before the procedure, ideally with patient involvement while the patient is awake.
Question 5: In OR fire prevention, the 'fire triangle' consists of an ignition source, an oxidizer, and:
- A flammable drape
- Fuel (Correct answer)
- Electrosurgical unit
- Oxygen tubing
Correct answer: Fuel
The fire triangle requires an ignition source (ESU, laser), an oxidizer (O₂, N₂O), and a fuel (drapes, alcohol preps, patient hair) — removing any one element prevents fire.
Question 6: A 'never event' in perioperative care is best described as:
- A rare but acceptable surgical complication
- A serious, largely preventable adverse event that should never occur (Correct answer)
- An anaphylactic reaction to anesthesia
- An unexpected intraoperative finding
Correct answer: A serious, largely preventable adverse event that should never occur
Never events are serious, preventable patient safety incidents — such as retained surgical items or wrong-site surgery — that should be eliminated with proper protocols.
Certified Surgical Technologist Patient Safety and Surgical Counts 2
The Universal Protocol for preventing wrong-site surgery was established by which organization?