Articles: checklist.
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Given the current operating climate, organizations are coming under pressure to develop and implement sustainability programs and projects, yet few managers truly understand what is meant by sustainability and its implications for managing organizations. This article examines the concept of sustainability and provides a broader definition of the term than going "green." Using a puzzle metaphor, the authors outline and explain the different components of sustainability and provide a checklist for achieving sustainability goals. In addition, resources such as guides and tools are reviewed and offered to assist managers in gaining more insight into the challenges and complexity of sustainability.
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Hospital checklists are gaining momentum, particularly since the World Health Organization's Safe Surgery Saves Lives Program published results of its study in 2009, indicating that a safety checklist significantly improved surgical outcomes in hospitals across the world. The South Carolina Hospital Association, in partnership with Dr Atul Gawande, has launched a program to implement the World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist in every operating room in the state over the next few years. ⋯ Drawing on research, recent initiatives, and the company's experience in high-acuity units, this article explores the implications and challenges of implementing checklists in today's hospitals. If a checklist is to succeed as a mechanism for transforming evidence-based care and safety protocols into best and actual practice, it needs to be used consistently and durably; to achieve this, hospitals need to foster a supportive environment as well as acquire a system to monitor, measure, and manage a culture that effectively embraces checklists.
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Catheter-associated urinary tract infections account for 40% of all health care-associated infections. An evidence-based, nurse-driven daily checklist for initiation and continuance of urinary catheters was implemented in 5 adult intensive care units. Measures of compliance, provider satisfaction, and clinical outcomes were recorded. Compliance with the checklist was 50 to 100%: catheter-associated urinary tract infections decreased from 2.88 to 1.46 per 1000 catheter days and catheter days decreased in 2 intensive care units.
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To assess what proportion of surgical malpractice claims might be prevented by the use of a surgical safety checklist. ⋯ Nearly one-third of all contributing factors in accepted surgical malpractice claims of patients that had undergone surgery might have been intercepted by using a comprehensive surgical safety checklist. A considerable amount of damage, both physical and financial, is likely to be prevented by using the SURPASS checklist.