Anest. intenziv. Med. 2025;36(2):68-73 | DOI: 10.36290/aim.2025.016

Adverse events risk score assessment of anaesthesia nurse activities in the context of the Czech RepublicOriginal Article

Bejvančická P.^{1, 2}, Brabcová I.¹

¹ Ústav ošetřovatelství, porodní asistence a neodkladné péče, Zdravotně sociální fakulta, Jihočeská univerzita v Českých Budějovicích

² Katedra ošetřovatelství a porodní asistence, Fakulta zdravotnických studií, Západočeská univerzita v Plzni

Objective: Anaesthesia care is burdened with a certain level of risk. The nurse is an essential part of the anaesthesia team. It is necessary to implement appropriate risk management strategies in the nursing. The aim of this study was to define the nurses' activities in anaesthesia care and evaluate risk score of adverse events for individual activities.

Design: Delphi study. Descriptive study.

Materials and methods: The 1st phase of the research included 2 Delphi rounds, the expert panel consisted of 20 anaesthesia nurses with overlap in management or education in anaesthesiology. The consensus level was set at 80% agreement of experts. A Likert scale was used to express the level of agreement. In the 2nd phase, the risk score of adverse events was defined for individual activities according to the Risk Management methodology. The experts determined the probability of occurrence and severity of the consequences of an adverse event. Risk score was calculated. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate and describe the data.

Results: 48 activities performed by a nurse during anaesthesia care were defined, subsequently divided into 7 areas. 30 (62.5%) activities were evaluated as high-risk, 18 as medium risk by experts. Some activities associated with the workplace and devices preparation, monitoring and surveillance, intravenous administration, airway management, teamwork, verification and preventive nursing interventions were evaluated as high-risk.

Results: Nurses represent an integral part of the anaesthesia team and activities performed by them during anaesthesia care are connected with high or medium risk score of adverse events. Risk management in anaesthesia nursing is essential for patient safety.

Keywords: anaesthesia care, risk management, nurse activities, patient safety.

Received: January 27, 2025; Revised: April 8, 2025; Accepted: April 23, 2025; Prepublished online: May 27, 2025; Published: June 27, 2025  Show citation