Effectiveness evaluation of the WHO surgical safety checklist

Abstract

The article presents the literature review concerning the results of applying the surgical safety checklist recommended by the World Health Organization in 2008 (SSC WHO). These recommendations are aimed primarily at the prevention of so-called preventable complications, and also can significantly affect the reduction of mortality. The influence of the checklist on the reduction of surgical complications (surgical infections, bleeding, cardiorespiratory complications), inpatient treatment terms, treatment cost is studied. The use of the checklist improves communication, preparedness for the operation, teamwork of the operations and anesthesiology staff, increases responsibility for security issues. The review notes the exceptional importance of the implementation of all three stages of the checklist, the preliminary conduct of the educational program for its implementation. The results of the recommendations use are mainly associated with the implementation strategy, not its formal implementation. It is noted that the checklist is an effective method of reducing intra- and postoperative complications and contributes to improving the quality of surgical care. In a number of publications, there was a decrease in the postoperative mortality from 1.9 to 0.2%, the frequency of surgical complications by 40% or more, infection of the surgical area (from 7.4 to 3.6%), hospitalization periods, the frequency of intra- and postoperative bleeding (from 2.6 to 1.0%), respectively, with a decrease in the cost of blood transfusion, plasma by 40%.