ABSTRACT
Introduction: World Health Organization’s surgical safety Checklist is applied in surgeries worldwide in an effort to reduce adverse postoperative complications. The implementation of the surgical safety Checklist improves the level of safety and quality of the services provided in the operating theater. This enhances the safety culture between staff during surgery and reduces unwanted postoperative complications.
Purpose: The overall purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the World Health Organization’s surgical safety Checklist on the safety culture, morbidity and postoperative course of patients in a Greek public hospital. At the same time the contribution of surgical safety Checklist to the reduction of postoperative complications was studied.
Material and Methods: This is a non-experimental cross-sectional study on the implementation of the World Health Organization’s surgical safety Checklist for the period before, during and after surgery in a Greek public hospital to see if it contributes to reducing postoperative complications. 312 surgeries were performed, while the surgical safety Checklist was implemented in 155 (49,7%). Descriptive statistics were used and frequency tables designed for the general characteristics of the sample.
Results: Of the 312 patients who participated in the study, 115 (36,9%), were men, and 197 (63,1%) were women. The majority of participants belonged to the age group of 65-74 years, while the second largest group belonged to the age group of 55-64 years. The overall complication rate over the duration of this work was 2,2% (7/312). The complication rate for surgical procedures surgical safety Checklist was applied reached 0% (0/155), in contrast with procedures that were not applied, 4,5% (7/157). The overall mortality rate for the entire study period was 0,3% (1/312). Other complications such as deep vein thrombosis 0,3%, (1/312), surgical wound infection 0,6%, (2/312), unplanned surgery returns 0,3%, (1/312) were occurred. A statistically significant difference (P <0,05) was found in the comparison of postoperative complications between the two groups before and after the application of the surgical safety Checklist at the operating room.
Conclusions: The implementation of the surgical safety Checklist is related to the reduction of undesirable postoperative complications and this phenomenon appears to be greater in developing countries. The implementation of the surgical safety Checklist contributes significantly to improving the quality and safety of surgical procedures, resulting in fewer postoperative complications. Yet, there was improvement in the working environment, team communication and efficiency of the group.
Key words: Surgical safety Checklist, postoperative complications, WHO
