5 Steps to Safer

A hospital in rural Ethiopia has reduced surgery-related deaths by 1/3 in 6 months by following a training plan that focuses on building leadership throughout the surgical team and the hospital, according to a Jhpiego blog post.

Berihun Adhane, an emergency surgical officer at Alamata Hospital, which sees hundreds of patients per year, led the efforts after a 5-day Safe Surgery 2020 (SS2020) Initiative leadership course (part of Ethiopia’s first-ever national surgical plan). The initiative emphasizes improvements across surgical practice rather than addressing procedures separately.

The effort involved 5 key steps that included using checklists for every surgery, controlling sources of infection, and recruiting leaders.

Source: Jhpiego