Has Your OR Implemented a Surgical Safety Checklist?
If you, like many RNFAs, have been trying to get your colleagues to use a Surgical Safety Checklist, there’s now more evidence than ever before to back you up. And no time like the present to make it happen.
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement has called for a “Sprint” with the goal of getting every hospital in the U.S. to test the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist at least one time, with at least one OR team, by April 1, 2009. AORN is joining the challenge.
It all stems from a Jan. 14, 2009 New England Journal of Medicine article, “A Surgical Safety Checklist to Reduce Morbidity and Mortality in a Global Population,” reporting on a study in which a surgical safety checklist based on WHO recommendations was implemented in eight hospitals in eight cities around the world. Use of the checklist during major operations lowered the incidence of death and complications by more than one-third, and the incidence of inpatient deaths following major operations by more than 40 percent.
Click here to access the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist.
At the WHO website you will also find some helpful videos about how and how NOT to use the checklist.
Do You Have a Surgical Story or Article for this Newsletter?
Here’s your opportunity to reach thousands of colleagues within the field of perioperative nursing. This newsletter is emailed to thousands of NIFA contacts each month and is also available to anyone who visits us online.
Send us your ideas for consideration:
- educational articles – subject matter relevant to RNFAs.
- short personal essays – a challenging surgery, funny experience in the OR, how you learned to work with a difficult surgeon, weighing RNFA career choices (self-employment vs. working for a hospital or surgeon), etc.
- profiles – if there’s someone you think we should profile, shoot us a quick email and let us know.
Send your ideas to the editor, Julie Lancaster, at [email protected]. Thanks!
