title: Increasing compliance with the World Health Organisation's Surgical Safety Checklist.
abstract: The World Health Organisation Surgical Safety Checklist (WHO SSC) is a validated tool for reducing in-patient surgical morbidity and mortality. It is not performed universally with full compliance. Two audit cycles were completed at two different trauma and orthopaedic units and compliance was measured. Site 1 was found to have a significantly lower compliance with the team-brief (p<0.001). Following a change in practice the compliance significantly increased (p>0.00001) at Site 1. The team de-brief was found to be consistently poorly complied with. We recommend regular audit of compliance and change in practice for all surgical units, and suggest national monitoring to ensure the benefits of the WHO checklist are applied to all in-patient surgery.
authors.affiliation: Dept Trauma and Orthopaedics, Brighton and Sussex University Hospital, Eastern Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN2 5BE. willkieffer@gmail.com
authors.forename: W K M
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Kieffer
authors.affiliation: Wessex Deanery, Trauma and Orthopaedics.
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Quaye
authors.affiliation: Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals, Brighton.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chotai
authors.affiliation: Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals, Brighton.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Ricketts
mesh_terms: D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006801:Humans; D008485:Medical Audit; D061214:Patient Safety / Q000592:standards*; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000592:standards*; D014944:World Health Organization