Journal
ANNALS OF SURGERY
Volume 251, Issue 5, Pages 976-980Publisher
LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS
DOI: 10.1097/SLA.0b013e3181d970e3
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- World Health Organization
- Hopitaux Universitaires de Geneve
- Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
- University of the Philippines
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Objective: To assess whether implementation of a 19-item World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist in urgent surgical cases would improve compliance with basic standards of care and reduce rates of deaths and complications. Background: Use of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist has been shown to be associated with significant reductions in complications and deaths. Before evaluation of this safety tool, concern was raised about whether its use would be practical or beneficial during urgent surgical procedures. Methods: We prospectively collected clinical process and outcome data for 1750 consecutively enrolled patients 16 years of age or older undergoing urgent noncardiac surgery before and after introduction of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist in 8 diverse hospitals around the world; 842 underwent urgent surgery-defined as an operation required within 24 hours of assessment to be beneficial-before introduction of the checklist and 908 after introduction of the checklist. The primary end point was the rate of complications, including death, during hospitalization up to 30 days following surgery. Results: The complication rate was 18.4% (n = 151) at baseline and 11.7% (n = 102) after the checklist was introduced (P = 0.0001). Death rates dropped from 3.7% to 1.4% following checklist introduction (P = 0.0067). Adherence to 6 measured safety steps improved from 18.6% to 50.7% (P < 0.0001). Conclusions: Implementation of the checklist was associated with a greater than one-third reduction in complications among adult patients undergoing urgent noncardiac surgery in a diverse group of hospitals. Use of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist in urgent operations is feasible and should be considered.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available