Adoption and implementation of the surgical safety checklist: Improving safety in an Italian teaching hospital

The involvement of the staff in safety problems should be systematic; the presence of a common language, con- tinuing education, and personal awareness are fundamen- tal instruments for pursuing this purpose. Moreover, it is necessary to comprehend the real importance and power of the Surgical Safety Checklist to avoid a superficial completion, without really verifying all the steps, just to perform a bureaucratic duty. The challenge of the checklist is essentially cultural: its adoption should not be seen as an additional new adminis- trative and bureaucratic duty but as an opportunity to pro- vide safer care to patients, limiting the risk of error