Surgical Safety

In 2006, surgical procedures were performed at the rate of 1,800 per 10,000 persons in the US (Ambulatory and Inpatient Procedures in the United States, 1996, Centers for Disease Control, page 16). Safely providing those procedures 100% of the time represents a significant challenge. CHPSO and the California Hospital Association both endorse the principles of the WHO Surgical Checklist.

Retained Foreign Objects

CHPSO Patient Safety News has an article on prevention strategies.

NoThing Left Behind®: A National Surgical Patient-Safety Project to Prevent Retained Surgical Items

The NoThing Left Behind web site contains information on implementing a program to eliminate retained foreign objects, with specific pages on sponges, needs, and instruments. (free full access).

Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP)

The Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) includes measures reportable to The Joint Commission and CMS. Resource 1 provides assistance in achieving organizational change.

Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) Best Practices Initiative Change Package Document. by Stratis Health and the Oklahoma Foundation for Medical Quality. (free full access).
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Surgical Site Infection Toolkit (set of PowerPoint slides). (free full access).
Guide for the Prevention of Mediastinitis Surgical Site Infections Following Cardiac Surgery. APIC. 2008. (free full access).
Guide to the Elimination of Orthopedic Surgical Site Infections. APIC. 2010. (free full access).

Patient Education Materials

APIC/CHPSO Patient Guide on Surgical Site Infection: Single Page Large Print Large Print — Spanish. (free full access).

Implementation Examples

Northern California Kaiser Permanente

Highly Reliable Surgical Teams (HRST): Improving Teamwork and Surgical Outcomes with Structured Briefings in a Large HMO – A Spread Project (posted on the Institute for Healthcare Improvement site). (free full access).

Help us improve our service

This web site is intended to be a useful resource for patient safety improvement. You can help us improve our service by answering a brief web survey at https://www.chpso.org/ls/index.php?sid=69327&lang=en.