Three hospitals in North Carolina have taken the concept of National Time Out Day--which occurred yesterday and consists of surgeons and their teams taking time prior to performing an operation to "check and recheck the patient and the procedure"--to a whole new level by making it standard operating procedure (pun intended). Doctors and nurses at three hospitals in Iredell County now must go through a checklist that does everything from checking for any possible allergies to ensuring that the right patient is on the table for all invasive procedures, reports the Statesville Record & Landmark. "It certainly has reduced surgical errors across the country," Brenda Burk, Lake Norman Regional Medical Center Ambulatory Surgery Services Director, told the newspaper. "I think it does help." Article