Free checklist template · Veterinary

Veterinary surgical safety checklist

A veterinary surgical safety checklist is worked through for every surgical patient, with the team pausing at set points: admission, before anesthesia, before the first incision, and before the patient leaves theatre. Short spoken checks at each pause catch the errors that cause most surgical harm, such as the wrong patient, procedure or side.

Updated October 2026 · PDF, Word and CSV · Free to use, don’t resell

Download PDF Use it in Wikidoc ↓

Checklist template

Check this template against your local regulations and your own policies before you use it.

Business
Location
Date

Each surgical patient

For every patient, read aloud at each pause

Done	Task	Notes	Initials
Admission
	Confirm the patient’s identity with the owner, and fit an ID band or collar
	Confirm the procedure, and the side or site, with the owner
	Check the consent form and the estimate are signed, with a contact number for the day
	Confirm when the patient last ate and drank, and any medication given at home
Before induction
	Confirm the patient’s identity, procedure and site against the consent form
	Weigh the patient, and record the weight used for drug doses
	Check the pre-anesthetic exam and any blood results are reviewed
	Check the drug doses are calculated, drawn up and labeled
	Check the anesthetic machine, breathing system, oxygen and scavenging
	Check the IV catheter, fluids, and the monitoring equipment are ready
	Check the emergency drugs and doses for this patient are to hand
Before the first incision (time out)
	The whole team confirms the patient, procedure and site aloud
	Confirm the surgical site is clipped and prepared, and marked if needed
	Confirm the instruments are sterile and their indicators have changed
	Confirm any antibiotics or pain relief due before surgery have been given
	Agree any concerns, and who calls for help if needed
Before the patient leaves theatre
	Count swabs, needles and instruments, and confirm the counts match
	Record the procedure, drugs given and any problems in the record
	Agree the recovery plan, pain relief and who monitors recovery
Recovery and discharge
	Monitor the patient until it’s extubated, warm and able to hold its head up
	Call the owner with an update and agree the discharge time
	Go through the discharge instructions and medication with the owner

Completed by
Checked by (manager)
Date
Notes

Common questions

What is a veterinary surgical safety checklist?

A short list of checks read aloud by the surgical team at set points, adapted for vets from the World Health Organization’s surgical safety checklist. It confirms the right patient, procedure and site, the anesthetic plan and equipment, and the counts at the end.

Do surgical checklists reduce errors in veterinary practice?

Studies in human and veterinary surgery link checklists with fewer complications and errors, mainly by making the team stop and confirm the basics. They work only if the whole team takes part and nobody skips a pause.

Who should lead the surgical time out?

Anyone on the team can lead it, often the vet nurse or technician monitoring anesthesia. What matters is that the surgeon stops and the whole team confirms each item aloud.

Can Wikidoc run a surgical checklist for each patient?

Wikidoc checklists repeat daily, weekly or monthly, so they don’t suit one checklist per patient. Print this list or record it in your practice software, and use Wikidoc to document your surgical and anesthetic protocols and train the team on them.

Veterinary surgical safety checklist

Each surgical patient

How to use this template

Use it in Wikidoc

Document how it’s done

Train the team on it

Map who does what

Related templates

Vet clinic opening and closing checklist

Veterinary controlled drug register procedure

Dental instrument reprocessing procedure

Vet nurse induction checklist

Aged care shift handover checklist

Broker file audit checklist

Common questions

What is a veterinary surgical safety checklist?

Do surgical checklists reduce errors in veterinary practice?

Who should lead the surgical time out?

Can Wikidoc run a surgical checklist for each patient?

Run your checklists and SOPs in one place