Causal Analysis of World Health Organization's Surgical Safety Checklist Implementation Quality and Impact on Care Processes and Patient Outcomes: Secondary Analysis From a Large Stepped Wedge Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in Norway.

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Haugen, AS; Wæhle, HV; Almeland, SK; Harthug, S; Sevdalis, N; Eide, GE; Nortvedt, MW; Smith, I; Søfteland, EDate
2019-02Source Title
Annals of SurgeryPublisher
Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)University of Melbourne Author/s
Sevdalis, NickAffiliation
Surgery (Austin & Northern Health)Metadata
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Journal ArticleCitations
Haugen, A. S., Wæhle, H. V., Almeland, S. K., Harthug, S., Sevdalis, N., Eide, G. E., Nortvedt, M. W., Smith, I. & Søfteland, E. (2019). Causal Analysis of World Health Organization's Surgical Safety Checklist Implementation Quality and Impact on Care Processes and Patient Outcomes: Secondary Analysis From a Large Stepped Wedge Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial in Norway.. Ann Surg, 269 (2), pp.283-290. https://doi.org/10.1097/SLA.0000000000002584.Access Status
Open AccessOpen Access at PMC
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6326038Abstract
OBJECTIVE: We hypothesize that high-quality implementation of the World Health Organization's Surgical Safety Checklist (SSC) will lead to improved care processes and subsequently reduction of peri- and postoperative complications. BACKGROUND: Implementation of the SSC was associated with robust reduction in morbidity and length of in-hospital stay in a stepped wedge cluster randomized controlled trial conducted in 2 Norwegian hospitals. Further investigation of precisely how the SSC improves care processes and subsequently patient outcomes is needed to understand the causal mechanisms of improvement. METHODS: Care process metrics are reported from one of our earlier trial hospitals. Primary outcomes were in-hospital complications and care process metrics, e.g., patient warming and antibiotics. Secondary outcome was quality of SSC implementation. Analyses include Pearson's exact χ test and binary logistic regression. RESULTS: A total of 3702 procedures (1398 control vs. 2304 intervention procedures) were analyzed. High-quality SSC implementation (all 3 checklist parts) improved processes and outcomes of care. Use of forced air warming blankets increased from 35.3% to 42.4% (P < 0.001). Antibiotic administration postincision decreased from 12.5% to 9.8%, antibiotic administration preincision increased from 54.5% to 63.1%, and nonadministration of antibiotics decreased from 33.0% to 27.1%. Surgical infections decreased from 7.4% (104/1398) to 3.6% (P < 0.001). Adjusted SSC effect on surgical infections resulted in an odds ratio (OR) of 0.52 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.38-0.72) for intervention procedures, 0.54 (95% CI: 0.37-0.79) for antibiotics provided before incision, and 0.24 (95% CI: 0.11-0.52) when using forced air warming blankets. Blood transfusion costs were reduced by 40% with the use of the SSC. CONCLUSIONS: When implemented well, the SSC improved operating room care processes; subsequently, high-quality SSC implementation and improved care processes led to better patient outcomes.
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