The DOI matches its Crossref record; 41 of the 41 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
A Surgical Safety Checklist to Reduce Morbidity and Mortality in a Global Population
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Surgery has become an integral part of global health care, with an estimated 234 million operations performed yearly. Surgical complications are common and often preventable. We hypothesized that a program to implement a 19-item surgical safety checklist designed to improve team communication and consistency of care would reduce complications and deaths associated with surgery. METHODS: Between October 2007 and September 2008, eight hospitals in eight cities (Toronto, Canada; New Delhi, India; Amman, Jordan; Auckland, New Zealand; Manila, Philippines; Ifakara, Tanzania; London, England; and Seattle, WA) representing a variety of economic circumstances and diverse populations of patients participated in the World Health Organization's Safe Surgery Saves Lives program. We prospectively collected data on clinical processes and outcomes from 3733 consecutively enrolled patients 16 years of age or older who were undergoing noncardiac surgery. We subsequently collected data on 3955 consecutively enrolled patients after the introduction of the Surgical Safety Checklist. The primary end point was the rate of complications, including death, during hospitalization within the first 30 days after the operation. RESULTS: The rate of death was 1.5% before the checklist was introduced and declined to 0.8% afterward (P=0.003). Inpatient complications occurred in 11.0% of patients at baseline and in 7.0% after introduction of the checklist (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of the checklist was associated with concomitant reductions in the rates of death and complications among patients at least 16 years of age who were undergoing noncardiac surgery in a diverse group of hospitals.
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“We chose to combine several educational and process changes into a single bundled intervention because numerous successful patient-safety interventions have used this approach.1,2,40”
From Changes in medical errors after implementation of a handoff program (2014) · cites this paper as [2]
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“The routine use of surgical safety checklists can reduce perioperative complications.”
From Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Special Statement: Surgical safety checklists for cesarean delivery (2021) · cites this paper as [3]
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“Surgical safety checklists, such as the one developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), 2 have been shown to reduce serious perioperative complications and death by 30% to 40% when implemented across a wide range of hospital settings.3,4”
From Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Special Statement: Surgical safety checklists for cesarean delivery (2021) · cites this paper as [3]
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“Studies demonstrating reduced morbidity and mortality with the use of a surgical safety checklist include detailed implementation programs involving extensive staff engagement and education.3,4,9”
From Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Special Statement: Surgical safety checklists for cesarean delivery (2021) · cites this paper as [3]
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“This problem may help to explain apparently contradictory findings about the value of surgical checklists, for example.47–49”
From Demystifying theory and its use in improvement (2015) · cites this paper as [47]
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Citations
Cites
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Flagged first, then by citations
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Cited by
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Items 1,001–1,011 of 1,011
Russ, S., Latif, Z. P., Hazell, A. L., Ogunmuyiwa, H., Tapper, J., Wachuku-King, S., Sevdalis, N., & Ocloo, J. E. (2019) · JMIR mhealth and uhealth · doi:10.2196/12859 · Cited by 34
Committee Opinion No. 680: the use and development of checklists in obstetrics and gynecology
(2016) · Obstetrics & Gynecology · doi:10.1097/aog.0000000000001772 · Cited by 33
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“The month after the Forum, Dr Gawande’s article in the New England Journal of Medicine made headlines, showing how a 2-minute checklist had decreased operative complications by more than one-third and nearly halved surgical deaths.(5) The SSSMP students felt ready for action.”
BackgroundInfluentialPrinciples for Real-World Implementation of Bedside Predictive Analytics Monitoring
Moorman, L. P. (2021) · Applied Clinical Informatics · doi:10.1055/s-0041-1735183 · Cited by 26
Surgical safety checklist implementation and its impact on patient safety
Dinesh, H. N., R. S., R., & V., S. K. (2018) · International Surgery Journal · doi:10.18203/2349-2902.isj20184637 · Cited by 14
Physical and Psychological Impact of Surgery on the Operating Surgeon
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“7 The Safer Surgery Check-list created by Dr Atul Gawande 8 9 (inspired by the Boeing checklist from the 1930s) is a prime example of creating a standardized environment with a view to increasing patient safety by reducing human error and avoiding cognitive overload through precise communication…”
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Lipatov, K., Daniels, C. E., Park, J. G., Elmer, J., Hanson, A. C., Madsen, B. E., Clements, C. M., Gajic, O., Pickering, B. W., & Herasevich, V. (2022) · The American Journal of Emergency Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.ajem.2021.09.086 · Cited by 11
Garber, A., Garabedian, P., Wu, L., Lam, A., Malik, M., Fraser, H., Bersani, K., Piniella, N., Motta-Calderon, D., Rozenblum, R., et al. (2023) · JAMIA Open · doi:10.1093/jamiaopen/ooad031 · Cited by 10
Combs, C. A. (2020) · American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology · doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2020.07.013 · Cited by 8
Sun, M., Patauli, D., Bernstein, P. S., Goffman, D., & Nathan, L. M. (2021) · International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics · doi:10.1002/ijgo.13355 · Cited by 5
Metadata
- Authors
- Haynes, A. B., Weiser, T. G., Berry, W. R., Lipsitz, S. R., Breizat, A.-H. S., Dellinger, E. P., Herbosa, T., Joseph, S., Kibatala, P. L., Lapitan, M. C. M., Merry, A. F., Moorthy, K., Reznick, R. K., Taylor, B., & Gawande, A. A.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- Ministry of Health (JO)
- University of Washington (US)
- University of the Philippines Manila (PH)
- St. Stephen’s Hospital (IN)
- St. Francis Referral Hospital (TZ)
- University of Auckland (NZ)
- National Health Service (GB)
- University Health Network (CA)
- ORCID
- Venue
- New England Journal of Medicine
- Publisher
- Massachusetts Medical Society
- Published
- 2009-01-29
- Volume
- 360
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 491-499
- ISSN
- 0028-4793 (ISSN-L)
- 1533-4406
- OpenAlex
- W2119472226
- Cited by
- 5,688
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 256 · 2025: 215 · 2024: 256 · 2023: 247 · 2022: 325 · 2021: 335 · 2020: 337 · 2019: 336 · 2018: 340 · 2017: 362 · 2016: 349 · 2015: 406 · 2014: 405 · 2013: 372 · 2012: 363
- FWCI
- 514.06
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- New England Journal of Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- ResearchSpace (University of Auckland) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Patient Safety and Medication Errors
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiac, Anesthesia and Surgical Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Surgical site infection prevention
- Keywords
- surgical safety checklist, surgical complications, postoperative mortality, non-cardiac surgery, team communication, patient safety, checklist implementation, global health care, in-hospital complications
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care, Postoperative Complications, Prospective Studies, Surgical Procedures, Operative, Safety Management
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