Published 1 July 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a623
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a623

News

WHO launches guide to safer surgery

Bob Roehr

1 Washington, DC

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A simple checklist in operating rooms worldwide is expected to prevent millions of injuries associated with surgery and save untold numbers of lives, according to the Safe Surgery Saves Lives campaign launched by the World Health Organization, in Washington, DC, on 25 June.

Major surgery is a growing component of health care, with an estimated 234 million procedures a year, or one for every 25 people. "Few of us who live a long life will do so without surgery," said Atul Gawande, the Harvard Medical School surgeon who organised the campaign.

A review of the literature found a bell curve of best to worst results in every country, with rates of complications varying from 3% to 16% and mortality rates from a fraction of a percent to 10%. Estimates are that seven million patients have substantial complications after operations, and one million die.

In the United States there could be . . . [Full text of this article]


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