The WHO Surgical Safety Checklist

The WHO Surgical Safety Checklist is a simple communication tool that has been proven to reduce complications and deaths from unsafe surgery by up to 40%.

The WHO (World Health Organization) Surgical Safety Checklist was developed as part of the WHO’s ‘Safe Surgery Saves Lives Program’ to address the growing crisis of unsafe surgery. The Checklist is a 19-item list of prompts created to decrease human errors and increase teamwork and communication in the operating room. 

The Checklist improves the safety of surgery by breaking down operating room hierarchies, improving communication and compliance with best safety practices, and helping surgical teams work together to provide safer care for their patients.

Lifebox was founded by the same individuals that created the Checklist – including our immediate Past Chair – Dr. Atul Gawande –  and the Checklist is the bedrock of our safer surgery and anesthesia programs.

The WHO (World Health Organization) Surgical Safety Checklist is a simple communication tool that has been proven to reduce complications and deaths from unsafe surgery by up to 40%.

"In 2008 emerged one of the most significant innovations for making safe, reliable surgical care more possible at global scale. It wasn’t a drug or device or new high-tech gadget. It was a checklist—the WHO (World Health Organization) Surgical Safety Checklist—a two-minute, single-page protocol with 19 items for reducing preventable human errors by improving communication and teamwork in the operating room." 
Dr. Atul Gawande, Lifebox co-founder

The Checklist is being used in 75% of operations globally¹, yet compared to high income countries, Checklist use is less common and highly variable in low- and middle-income countries where there are numerous barriers to adoption. Buy-in, adaptation, and support for effective Checklist implementation by individuals and surgical teams, health facilities, professional societies, and governments are key to the successful implementation of the Checklist. Lifebox and partner Ariadne Labs published Checking In On the Checklist, written by Marine Buissonniere, on the Checklist’s impact so far and what needs to be done to save more lives in the future. Read the report here.

Lifebox supports surgical teams around the world to address the barriers to effective Checklist use, through programs such as Clean Cut and the Checklist Strategies workshop.

“As access to surgical care is increasingly recognized as a vital component of health care, advancement and adoption of powerful, simple, and cost-effective tools like the Checklist will be essential for ensuring that every human being can count on getting the right care everywhere, every time.” Dr. Atul Gawande, Lifebox co-founder.

The Checklist has been shown to achieve:

 
  • 50%

    reduction in mortality²

  • 36%

    reduction in postoperative complications

Clean Cut

A Lifebox surgical infection reduction program

Find out more

COVID-19 Surgical Patient Checklist

Reducing risk of infection for surgical teams and patients

COVID-19 Checklist

Checking In On The Checklist

A Lifebox Ariadne Labs report on the uptake and impact of the Checklist

Read more
“Every surgical procedure we perform needs to be as safe as possible—there is a life at stake—and the Checklist helps us make sure we communicate, follow best practices, and reduce the chances of mistakes and causes of infection as much as possible. It is a simple tool, but it saves lives.”
Dr. Tihitena Negussie, pediatric surgeon, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Lifebox Global Clinical Director
The WHO Surgical Safety Checklist

The WHO Surgical Safety Checklist

The Checklist is a 19-item list of prompts created to decrease human errors and increase teamwork and communication in the operating room. 

Download Checklist

 

1 M Delisle, J C Pradarelli, N Panda, L Koritsanszky, Y Sonnay, S Lipsitz, R Pearse, E M Harrison, B Biccard, T G Weiser, A B Haynes, on behalf of the Surgical Outcomes Study Groups and GlobalSurg Collaborative, Variation in global uptake of the Surgical Safety Checklist, British Journal of Surgery, Volume 107, Issue 2, January 2020, Pages e151–e160, https://doi.org/10.1002/bjs.11321

 

²  Haynes AB, Weiser TG, Berry WR, Lipsitz SR, Breizat AHS, Dellinger EP, et al. A Surgical Safety Checklist to Reduce Morbidity and Mortality in a Global Population. New England Journal of Medicine [Internet]. 2009 Jan 29 [cited 2022 May 31];360(5):491–9. Available from: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa0810119

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