this has been a popular topic of late. Seems to be a good illustration of something that falls in the zone of certainty we discussed yesterday.
jd
Adopting A Surgical Safety Checklist Could Save Money And Improve The Quality Of Care In U.S. Hospitals -- Semel et al. 29 (9): 1593 -- Health Affairs
I have often stopped to think about the place of ‘Murphy’s Law’ in our lives. This adage that simply states ‘Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong’, when true, could have disastrous ramifications in the practice of medicine. Medicine has evolved into a system of great complexity, intricately weaving together man, machine and materials through innumerable interconnected processes. Failures could occur at each step, after all ‘To err is human’!
ReplyDeleteAn error-free delivery of care can only take place when these failures can be anticipated, addressed and consequently pre-empted. The Surgical Safety checklist is just one of the many checklists that medicine now depends on to deliver error-free care. I have been part of the checklist implementation process in hospital settings, but the thought of a ‘cost-factor’ never once crossed my mind. One knew that the checklist cost would fade away in front of the savings that it would ensure. In view of this, the quoted study, its methodology and the quantification of cost and savings are indeed impressive. The article also gives considerable insight into how a study should be conducted.
That an organization is able to save financially on a quality improvement measure as simple as a checklist would make it an attractive proposition to any management to adopt. Besides leading to an error-free surgery, the checklist contributes significantly in bringing in a service-wide behavioural change. The change in attitudes (From ‘Why do we need this, we know our job’ to ‘If it wasn’t for the checklist, the error would have been fatal’), the spirit of teamwork, improved turnaround times are just some of the many benefits I have experienced.
In today’s era of healthcare reforms, mandating the implementation of this checklist would further bring affordable healthcare within the reach of the common man!
A pilot study need be designed to compare beneficial effects with adverse effects of the checklist (prolonged operation time, take surgery staffs out of their comfort zone, etc).
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