Articles: checklist.
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Avoidable adverse events must be subjected to continuous control to be detected at the time and prevent their occurrence. Its knowledge is essential to prevent them and their consequences and any effective action on the matter of risk management and health safety must be taken into account. Surgical checklists fulfil these requirements, making patient care easier and opening the possibility of effective communication with the group and with the patient. ⋯ In the preparation of this checklist, a review was made of other surgical checklists of reference, as well as the recommendations for producing one and the justification of its need in all interventional procedures of risk. A simple checklist has been designed, which is adaptable to the specific characteristics of interventional radiology. Nursing staff are the key professionals on the design and implementation helping to identify those conditions that may threaten the success of the intervention.
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A checklist is a cognitive tool specifying the actions necessary to complete a given task. It serves to improve the quality of care, support the memory of the user and it may serve to indicate the necessary communicative steps within a team. ⋯ Preliminary results indicate a potential for patient safety. However, no evidence indicates that a checklist in itself is sufficient to obtain clinical results: training and motivating staff, supporting implementation, and conducting follow-up and evaluation are as important as the checklist itself to achieve results.
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The World Health Organization 'Surgical Safety Checklist' has been adopted by UK surgical units following National Patient Safety Agency guidance. Our aim was to assess compliance with our local version of this Checklist. ⋯ Our completed audit cycle demonstrated a significant improvement in Checklist compliance following educational intervention. We discuss barriers to compliance, as well as strategies for quality improvement, and we call for other surgeons to similarly publish their Checklist experience and assess its impact on surgical outcomes.