The WHO Surgical Safety Checklist has reduced surgical death rates by nearly 50%.

The World Health Organization (WHO) launched the Surgical Safety Checklist in 2008 as part of the 'Safe Surgery Saves Lives' initiative. Led by Dr. Atul Gawande and a team of international experts, the checklist was designed to reduce avoidable surgical complications and deaths worldwide. A landmark study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2009 evaluated the checklist's impact across eight diverse hospitals in cities like London, Manila, and Amman.The results were staggering. In the study group of 3,733 patients, the rate of major complications fell from 11% to 7%, while the death rate dropped from 1.5% to 0.8%. This represented a nearly 50% reduction in mortality. The checklist consists of three phases: 'Sign In' before anesthesia, 'Time Out' before the skin incision, and 'Sign Out' before the patient leaves the operating room.A key component of the checklist is the 'Time Out' phase, where every team member introduces themselves by name and role. This simple act breaks down traditional hospital hierarchies and encourages nurses or technicians to speak up if they notice a mistake. By standardizing basic safety checks, such as confirming antibiotic administration and counting surgical sponges, the checklist addresses the human factor in medical errors. Today, it is used in thousands of hospitals globally and is considered one of the most effective public health interventions in modern medicine.