A study conducted in the Netherlands and published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) confirms an earlier report from the US, that the use of a surgical safety checklist significantly reduces surgical morbidity and mortality.
The Netherlands study, carried out from October 2007 to March 2009, shows that with the use of a checklist, surgery complications were reduced by more than one-third and deaths reduced by almost half (from 1.5% to 0.8%).
The National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has led on the implementation of the World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist throughout England and Wales. In January 2009 the NPSA issued a patient safety alert, requiring NHS organisations to implement the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist for every patient undergoing a surgical procedure.
