III 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 40 

Supporting the goals and ideas of National Time Out Day to promote the 

adoption of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations’ universal protocol for preventing errors in the operating room. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 7, 2005 

Ms. LANDRIEU (for herself, Mr. DURBIN, and Mr. SANTORUM) submitted the 

following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Health, 

Education, Labor, and Pensions 

RESOLUTION 

Supporting the goals and ideas of National Time Out Day 

to promote the adoption of the Joint Commission on 

Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations’ universal protocol for preventing errors in the operating room. 

Whereas according to an Institute of Medicine report entitled 

‘‘To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System’’, 

published in 2000, between 44,000 and 98,000 hospitalized people in the United States die each year due to 

medical errors, and untold thousands more suffer injury 

or illness as a result of preventable errors; 

Whereas there are more than 40,000,000 inpatient surgery 

procedures and 31,000,000 outpatient surgery procedures 

performed annually in the United States; 
2 

•SRES 40 IS

Whereas for the first time, nurses, surgeons, and hospitals 

throughout the country are being required by the Joint 

Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations to adopt a common set of operating room procedures in order to help curb the alarming number of 

deaths and injuries due to medical errors; 

Whereas the Joint Commission on Accreditation of 

Healthcare Organizations has developed a universal protocol, endorsed by more than 50 national healthcare organizations, which calls for surgical teams to call a ‘‘time 

out’’ before surgeries begin in order to verify the patient’s identity, the procedure to be performed, and the 

site of the procedure; 

Whereas 4,579 accredited hospitals, 1,261 ambulatory care 

facilities, and 131 accredited office-based surgery centers 

were required by the Joint Commission on Accreditation 

of Healthcare Organizations to adopt the universal protocol beginning July 1, 2004; 

Whereas the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses 

has created an Internet website and distributed 55,000 

tool kits to healthcare professionals throughout the country to assist them in implementing the universal protocol; 

and 

Whereas the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, 

the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, the American College of Surgeons, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the American Hospital 

Association, and the American Society for Healthcare 

Risk Management celebrate National Time Out Day on 

June 22, 2005, to promote the adoption of the Joint 

Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organiza-
3 

•SRES 40 IS

tions’ universal protocol for preventing errors in the operating room: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) supports the goals and ideas of National 

3 Time Out Day, as designated by the Association of 

4 periOperative Registered Nurses and endorsed by 

5 the American College of Surgeons, the American So6 ciety of Anesthesiologists, the American Hospital As7 sociation, and the American Society for Healthcare 

8 Risk Management, to promote the adoption of the 

9 Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare 

10 Organizations’ universal protocol for preventing er11 rors in the operating room; and 

12 (2) congratulates perioperative nurses and rep13 resentatives of surgical teams for working together 

14 to reduce medical errors to ensure the improved 

15 health and safety of surgical patients. 

Æ