The Checklist Conundrum

The story of the patient-safety movement is one of slow progress punctuated by episodes of inspiring successes that are slow to be replicated. So it is not surprising that when promising innovations are not universally adopted, the public and policymakers are outraged and sometimes turn to regulation to ensure compliance. The surgical safety checklist is such an innovation. 1 The use of such checklists has been mandated or strongly encouraged by several governments, including those of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Ontario, Canada. A study reported in this issue of the Journal by Urbach and colleagues 2 shows the limitations of . . .