All 40 pathways within the Map of Medicine that contain a surgical component now prompt users to consult the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist at key points in the care pathway.
The WHO Surgical Safety Checklist is the focus of WHO's Second Global Patient Safety Challenge: Safe Surgery Saves Lives, which was launched in June 2008 to improve the safety of surgical care. The checklist identifies three phases of an operation, each corresponding to a specific period in the normal flow of work.
The UK's National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has been working with WHO, the Royal College of Surgeons and others to implement the Surgical Safety Checklist throughout the NHS by February 2010.
Integration with the Map of Medicine enables easy access to the WHO and NPSA versions of the checklist, and increases the visibility of the initiative to clinicians and those involved in service design.
Research indicates that use of the checklist increases adherence to patient safety standards of care, resulting in a substantial reduction in complications and deaths.
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About Map of Medicine
Map of Medicine is a visual representation of evidence-based, practice-informed pathways. A key tool for clinically-led service improvement programmes, the Map has been shown to improve patient outcomes and lower healthcare delivery costs. For more information, please visit www.mapofmedicine.com.