Implementation of the surgical safety checklist in South Carolina hospitals is associated with improvement in perceived perioperative safety.

Molina G, Jiang W, Edmondson L, et al. J Am Coll Surg. 2016;222:725-736.e5.

Surgical checklists have been associated with reduced morbidity and mortality in randomized trials, but real-world implementation has not always resulted in improvement. This pre-post study reports on an initiative to implement surgical checklists in South Carolina hospitals. Investigators surveyed surgical personnel before and after checklist implementation. Compared with the pre-intervention responses, measures of teamwork improved, and 54% of participants reported effective checklist compliance. The study did not report on changes in patient outcomes after checklist introduction, which would substantiate calls for implementingchecklists widely. A PSNet interview with Dr. Lucian Leape discussed his perspective on checklists and patient safety.

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