There are various versions of the WHO checklist, adapted by various organizations around the world. Some are adapted to account for local practices, others for specialized situations. Several offer applications for hand-held devices.

• The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) has a checklist that includes the Joint Commission’s Universal Protocol. Their version identifies which components come from the WHO Checklist and which from the Joint Commission’s Protocol for Preventing Wrong Site, Wrong Procedure and Wrong Person Surgery™.
• Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital has a fully scripted version of the checklist.
• Canadian surgical safety checklist. They also have implementation resources.
• The Colorado Surgical Site Checklist incorporates Joint Commission and Surgical Care Improvement Project measures.
• Oregon Patient Safety Commission version, which includes elements of the Joint Commission-required Universal Protocol, rearranges some of the elements, and adds other safety aspects.
• In Washington state, the done (SCOAP) has two variations, a surgical checklist and an ambulatory surgery checklist.

Specialized Situations

Children’s Hospital of Boston pediatric surgery checklist.

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons has adapted the WHO checklist for three specific settings: adult cardiac surgery, general thoracic surgery and congenital heart surgery.

The UK National Health Service developed a checklist for cataract surgery and a checklist for radiological interventions.

Checklist Applications

There are even several free iPhone apps: Safe OR: Safety Checklist, Safe Surgery, Surg-i-Scan and Check a Box, Save a Life. Other resources often are the product of provider organizations or expert committees. However, apps are not such products, and they should be evaluated for accuracy and proper function prior to use.