Nursing

News spotlight: Checklist helps hospitals make 40% cut in surgery-related deaths

Nurse Leader Weekly, January 26, 2009

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The solution to slashing surgical deaths and complications may come in the form of a 19-item checklist.

A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine examining eight hospitals' surgical teams across the globe found average patient death rates dropped more than 40% after implementing a 19-item checklist. Researchers also cited an approximate 33% drop in surgery-related complications.

Researchers observed surgical teams in eight countries including the U.S, England, India, Jordan, and New Zealand and reviewed 7,688 patient outcomes resulting from noncardiac surgeries.

The checklist incorporates basic steps in which nurses and physicians must introduce themselves to patients prior to performing surgery. Other precautions include nurses confirming necessary equipment is sterilized and in the room, and if patients have been administered antibiotics. Surgical teams must also check that the facility is adequately supplied with blood, in the event a patient loses blood during surgery.

Source: The New York Times



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