[Do we need a surgical safety checklist?].

Various studies have shown that the use of a checklist in the operating room lowers mortality and morbidity related to the act of anaesthesia and surgery. The WHO launched a program in June 2008 to improve the safety of surgical care; the main point is the rational use of a simple tool: the Surgical Safety Checklist. Therefore, the HAS, with various representatives of colleges and professional associations of surgeons, anaesthesiologists and operating room nurses including CNGOF and SCGP, established recommendations and proposed a single checklist for all. This list should be used by any team of operative room: nurses, anaesthesiologists, surgeons before anaesthetic induction and before surgery and after the last act before leaving the room. This checklist can of course be supplemented by other checklists specific from specialty teams or places but it can never be abridged or altered. The HAS provides for the promotion of the implementation of this checklist, the certification of health facilities with its introduction into the V2010 and accreditation of doctors. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.