Study: Surgical safety checklists cut complications, death rates

It strikes me as absurd that people in the medical perfession haven't used a basic checklist before this time. Checklists have been used by many perfessionals for a long time and it seems that medical staff should have been the frist to use one. It shows the mentality of the people providing us with life-critical services. It seems to me that people were too full of themselves and/or greedy to look out for their customers' best interests, life!

The fact of the matter is, surgical staff DO use checklists, many of them!! The WHO checklist is comprehensive and probably amalgamates several checklists. As an OR nurse, I make the safety of patients my top priority and resent being told that I'm "too full of myself" or "greedy" - DO NOT comment until you've walked a mile in my shoes.

This study sheds more needed light on problems with patient safey and the deeply embedded culture of the American healthcare system. As we try to improve both the patient experience and patient safety, I believe that it is critical to empower patients and their loved ones to become involved in all aspects of their care. We need to find ways to help patients be informed consumers so they can work as partners with their doctors and hospitals. Things like the surgical checklist are imperative. It is also imperative that we have tools to actively engage patients. This the goal of my patient advocacy booklet, "Don't Leave the Hospital Sicker Than You Went In! A Doctor's 106 Tips for a Healty and Safe Hospital Experience," available at www.MDCanHelp.com Together we can make the HC system safer for all of us.