A simple procedure is saving thousands of lives. Although it has been known for many years, it has not been widely used. This approach shows how sometimes simple ideas that respond to real needs can have a dramatic impact on people's lives and health.
The rationale behind the development of this procedure was based on the several steps doctors have to follow when treating people in intensive care units (ICUs), or 'critical care'. On any given day, an estimated 90,000 people are in intensive care in the United States.
ICU patients undergo several procedures, most of them critical for survival: it is most important that some basic and necessary procedures are properly carried out - if they are not, patients can die.
In 2001, Dr Peter Pronovost, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, began studying hospital-acquired infections. These infections affect one in 10 patients, killing 90,000 of them and costing as much as US$11 billion each year.
Pronovost began investigating this alarming situation at Johns Hopkins Hospital, focusing on bloodstream infections from central venous catheters used in intensive care units. He concluded that providing physicians with a chart reminding them of each step in some routine procedures could drastically reduce the number of errors leading to such infections.
Pronovost shortened lengthy guidelines into a simple checklist of five precautionary steps: doctors should wash their hands with soap; clean the patient's skin with chlorhexidine antiseptic; put sterile drapes over the entire patient; wear a sterile mask, hat, gown and gloves; and put a sterile dressing over the catheter site. Neglecting one or more of these simple procedures can lead to disastrous results.