Simple step saves lives

My husband is the king of to-do lists. When we go camping, he makes a list. When we go grocery shopping, he makes a list. When we go on a trip, he makes a list. In fact, when we drove to the coast last year he made a list of all the towns we would encounter along the way with the number of miles from that town to the coast and how many miles we had driven from our hometown to that town. He said it was for the kids so that when they asked how long we had left he could tell them exactly; I know it was actually for his benefit though.

Well who knew that the little to-do list can be more than the anal-retentive husband's friend? It can actually save lives.

According to a new report, doctors worldwide who followed a simple list during surgery "cut the death rate from surgery almost in half and complications by more than a third in a large international study of how to avoid blatant operating room mistakes."

Okay, time to make lists mandatory in hospitals I think.

Some of the 19-item checklist used in the study included:

• Before the patient is given anesthesia, make sure the part of the body to be operated on is marked, and make sure everyone on the surgical team knows if the patient has an allergy.
• Before the surgeons cut, make sure everyone in the operating room knows one another and what their roles will be during the operation, and confirm that all the needed X-rays and scan images are in the room.
• After surgery, check that all the needles, sponges and instruments are accounted for.

Before the checklist was introduced, 1.5 percent of patients in a comparison group died within 30 days of surgery at the eight hospitals. Afterward, the rate dropped to 0.8 percent — a 47 percent decrease.

Good news, though, the Joint Commission is considering making more lists mandatory.

Whew.

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