The New England Journal of Medicine paper on the results of trials of implementing guidelines for surgery is now available on the NEJM website.
Extract:
“The rate of any complication at all sites dropped from 11.0% at baseline to 7.0% after introduction of the checklist (P<0.001); the total in-hospital rate of death dropped from 1.5% to 0.8% (P = 0.003) (Table 5). The overall rates of
surgical-site infection and unplanned reoperation also declined significantly.”
News wrap:
New York Times: Simple checklist makes surgery safer
Science News: Using checklist reduces surgery complications
Press Association: Surgical checklists cut deaths