Open AccessSurgical hygiene
Author(s) -
А Л Левит,
Denise Darmawikarta
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
uwomj/medical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2560-8274
pISSN - 0042-0336
DOI - 10.5206/uwomj.v83i2.4422
Subject(s) - checklist , safer , hygiene , medicine , harm , health care , patient safety , medical emergency , nursing , intensive care medicine , psychology , political science , computer security , computer science , social psychology , pathology , law , cognitive psychology
Overwhelming rates of postsurgical adverse outcomes have been recognized to be preventable. As a means of minimizing the incidence of iatrogenesis, in 2005 the World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Clean Care is Safer Care campaign, which focused on the importance of hand hygiene. Following its success, the WHO hoped to utilize similar strategies in their Safe Surgery Saves Lives campaign, which began in 2007. Despite active efforts to implement the associated 19-step surgical checklist, resource limitations restrict the full potential of such harm reduction strategies. Here, we discuss current evidence evaluating the effectiveness of the WHO’s surgical checklist and address challenges with respect to its application in the real world.