Surgical checklist reduces deaths
Infection Control Weekly Monitor, January 21, 2009
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A 19-item safety checklist used by surgical teams does what it is intended: reduces complications and deaths, according to a new study. The checklist, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2008, includes steps such as having nursing staff confirm all equipment is sterilized and requiring that team members confirm the patient has received antibiotics ahead of the surgery, if called for, to reduce the risks of infection.
Researchers reported in the January 14 online edition of The New England Journal of Medicine that the safety checklist, designed to improve surgical team communication and consistency of care, was effective. A year after eight hospitals in various countries adopted the checklist as part of the WHO’s Safe Surgery Saves Lives program, the average patient death rate fell more than 40 percent and the rate of complications fell by about a third, researchers found.
To read more about the study, click here.
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