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Clinical Practice
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The Importance of the Presurgical Huddle

Learn how nurses use structured presurgical huddles to identify hazards, coordinate resources, escalate concerns, and support safer perioperative care.

A circulating nurse leads an interdisciplinary presurgical huddle with surgical, anesthesia, scrub, and recovery team members reviewing a de-identified case plan in a private perioperative area.
Contact hours
2
Format
Self-paced, online
Last reviewed
Sep 19, 2026

$10.00or included with All-Access

$5 per contact hour · 2 contact hours

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  • No post-test required · unlimited retakes · evaluation and attestation always required

Course Purpose

Learn how nurses use structured presurgical huddles to identify hazards, coordinate resources, escalate concerns, and support safer perioperative care.

Continuing Education Credit Designation

This educational activity is credited for 2 contact hours at completion of the activity.

Overview

This course prepares perioperative RNs and LPNs to distinguish a presurgical huddle from the required procedure-specific time-out and other surgical safety checks. Learners will review common perioperative hazards, team roles, communication methods, and the evidence supporting structured team briefings. After completing the course, the nurse will be able to lead or participate in a concise huddle, identify unresolved safety threats, initiate escalation when a huddle is missed or incomplete, and help evaluate huddle reliability within organizational policy and individual scope of practice.

Objectives

Upon completion of this independent study, the learner will be able to:

  1. Differentiate a presurgical huddle from the preprocedure verification process, surgical-site marking, sign-in, time-out, and sign-out.
  2. Identify common perioperative hazards that should be anticipated during a presurgical huddle.
  3. Apply a structured huddle process to verify readiness, assign responsibilities, and create contingency plans.
  4. Demonstrate closed-loop communication and graded escalation when a team member identifies an unresolved safety concern.
  5. Select process and outcome measures for evaluating huddle completion, quality, and effectiveness.

Policy Statement

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the policies of FastCEForLess.com. This course should be used for informational purposes only and should not be used to diagnose, treat, prescribe, recommend, or initiate therapies or treatments in any setting. This course is copyrighted by Fast CE For Less, Inc. and may not be replicated, copied, or dispersed without written consent.

Disclosures

Fast CE For Less, Inc. and its authors have no disclosures. There is no commercial support.

Who this course is for:

Advanced Practice Registered Nurses, registered nurses, licensed practical or vocational nurses, and other healthcare providers in any setting who want continuing education on The Importance of the Presurgical Huddle.

Course outline

9 sections · finish in any order across devices

  1. 1

    Introduction

  2. 2

    Understanding Surgery

  3. 3

    Rates and Incidences of Surgical Errors

  4. 4

    Understanding the Presurgical Huddle

  5. 5

    Benefits of a Presurgical Huddle

  6. 6

    Conducting a Presurgical Huddle

  7. 7

    Addressing Incomplete or Missed Huddles

  8. 8

    Nursing Considerations

  9. 9

    Conclusion

References

The full reference list is included inside the course, after the Conclusion.

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