The World Health Organization provides a free, downloadable surgical safety checklist.
The latest version of the checklist was released in Sept. 2009. While the content of the 19 checklist items remains unchanged from the previous version, the wording of each checklist item has been modified to improve the checklist's usability, according to WHO.
Use of the WHO surgical safety checklist improved compliance with standards and decreased complications from surgery in eight pilot hospitals where is was evaluated.
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Download the WHO surgical safety checklist (pdf) in English for use in your facility.
Download the Spanish version (pdf).
View our database providing 75-plus reports that link to free, downloadable and adaptable tools for use in surgery centers, hospitals and other provider organizations by clicking here.
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