Tuesday 30 October 2012

Paper: Surgical Safety Checklist - more than checking a box

Fabulous - the authors have published a study where the results show there's a problem. I've been harping on about the lack of negative studies for years. So well done to the authors.

Basically, they've done some follow up work to see how well used the surgical safety checklist is. No surprises to discover that is most cases only 4 of the 13 items were checked. They suggest there is a problem with the fidelity of implementation, and a poor dissemination strategy and implementation.

Fidelity really is key. There's no point in shouting from the rooftops that 100 hospitals are using a checklist, for example, if it is not being used as intended. The results will not be as good as the pilot study. The return on investment for the project will not be as good. And, who knows, in some programs, the results may actually be worse than if the program hadn't been disseminated.

Fidelity. Important.

Surgery. 2012 Jul 6. [Epub ahead of print]
Implementing a surgical checklist: More than checking a box.
Levy SMSenter CEHawkins RBZhao JYDoody KKao LSLally KPTsao K.




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