Noteboom The Law Firm

VA Hospitals Using Checklists Have Fewer Surgical-Related Deaths

October 28, 2010 - Most people are nervous going into surgery, which is a completely normal feeling, given the circumstances. Before being anesthetized, having every person in the room run down a checklist of exactly what they are going to do during your procedure in an effort to safeguard against accidents may very well put some of that worry to rest.

This is what the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) surgical centers have begun doing. While making patients less worried may or may not have been the main priority, post-surgery related deaths have dropped since the checklist program was implemented.

The checklists force the entire surgical team to work as just that - a team. Normally the surgeon leading the procedure owns the room and is complete control sitting atop the traditional hierarchal structure. This is how things have always been done.

The checklist system has everyone discussing their checklists before, during, and after the procedure. The idea is to prevent against such surgical errors as performing surgery on the wrong part of the body. The results during the initial 3-year test saw and average 18% drop in post-surgical deaths.

The checklist program has been put into place in almost all of the VA's 130 surgical centers. Prior to surgery, patients identify themselves and the procedure they're having. Then they hear all the checklists being read so they have the ability to speak up if something seems wrong to them. Everyone in the room has a voice in the surgery.