Operating theatre management
Schedule surgeries on the theatre board with the WHO safety checklist, pre-anaesthesia assessment and surgical consent.
Operating theatre (OT) management coordinates surgery from scheduling through the peri-operative safety steps. The theatre board is the shared plan of the day, and the safety tooling makes sure nothing is skipped before a patient goes to sleep.
The theatre board
The OT board shows scheduled surgeries so the surgical, anaesthesia and nursing teams work from one plan. Everyone can see what is booked, in which theatre, and in what order.
Scheduling surgeries
Book the case
Add the surgery to the theatre board with its patient, procedure and team.
Complete pre-operative requirements
Confirm the pre-anaesthesia assessment and surgical consent are in place.
Run the safety checklist
Work through the WHO peri-operative checklist at its defined points.
WHO peri-operative safety checklist
The WHO surgical safety checklist structures the standard peri-operative safety pauses before, during and at the end of the case: confirming the right patient, the right procedure and the right site, and that the team is ready.
The checklist only protects patients if it is completed honestly at each pause point, not ticked retrospectively. Treat it as a hard stop, not paperwork.
Pre-anaesthesia assessment (PAC)
The pre-anaesthesia assessment (PAC) records the anaesthetist's evaluation of whether the patient is fit for anaesthesia. It belongs to the pre-operative preparation for every scheduled case.
Surgical consent
Surgical consent captures the patient's informed agreement to the procedure. Together with the PAC, it forms the pre-operative gate that should be cleared before the case proceeds.
- One shared theatre schedule for all teams
- PAC confirming fitness for anaesthesia
- Documented surgical consent
- WHO checklist completed at each safety pause
Clear the PAC and consent well ahead of the list, not on the morning of surgery, to avoid last-minute cancellations that leave theatre time idle.