Ten Years and Counting: Sustaining Effectiveness of the Surgical Safety Checklist Through Ongoing Implementation Efforts

Excerpt

In their study, entitled “Implementation of the World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist correlates to reduced surgical mortality and length of hospital admission in a high income country,” authors de Jager et al. contribute to the growing evidence that surgical checklists can save lives and prevent complications around the world, this time in a tertiary care center in Australia [1]. Beyond its heretofore unstudied setting, what is also noteworthy about this study is its finding that the checklist’s positive impact on mortality reached significance in the long-term (2–3 years post-implementation), highlighting the behavioral and cultural changes the checklist is thought to engender. As the Surgical Safety Checklist celebrates 10 years of use in operating rooms around the world, its staying power is evident; however, there is still much to learn about how we can sustain the effectiveness of the checklist over time. …