Checklists Reduce Hospital Based Infections
“Prior to our work, we thought these were largely inevitable infections and that they were simply a cost of being in the hospital,” says Pronovost, the report’s leader and the developer of the checklist. “Now we know they are universally preventable. We’ve reset the benchmark.”
Many quality improvement innovations, Pronovost says, are a flash in the pan — successful while they are being implemented and monitored, only to fall by the wayside once no one is watching anymore. Sustainability of the kind seen in Michigan requires a “complete culture change” that goes well beyond checklists and reminders to wash hands and use chlorhexidine antiseptic, he says.
