Compliance and use of the World Health Organization checklist in U.K. operating theatres.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist is reported to reduce surgical morbidity and mortality, and is mandatory in the U.K. National Health Service. Hospital audit data show high compliance rates, but direct observation suggests that actual performance may be suboptimal. METHODS: For each observed operation, WHO time-out and sign-out attempts were recorded, and the quality of the time-out was evaluated using three measures: all information points communicated, all personnel present and active participation. RESULTS: Observation of WHO checklist performance was conducted for 294 operations, in five hospitals and four surgical specialties. Time-out was attempted in 257 operations (87.4 per cent) and sign-out in 26 (8.8 per cent). Within time-out, all information was communicated in 141 (54.9 per cent), the whole team was present in 199 (77.4 per cent) and active participation was observed in 187 (72.8 per cent) operations. Surgical specialty did not affect time-out or sign-out attempt frequency (P = 0.453). Time-out attempt frequency (range 42-100 per cent) as well as all information communicated (15-83 per cent), all team present (35-90 per cent) and active participation (15-93 per cent) varied between hospitals (P < 0.001 for all). CONCLUSION: Meaningful compliance with the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist is much lower than indicated by administrative data. Sign-out compliance is generally poor, suggesting incompatibility with normal theatre work practices. There is variation between hospitals, but consistency across studied specialties, suggesting a need to address organizational culture issues.

Abnormalities of the thoracic bellows: stress fractures of the ribs and hiatal hernia.

The thoracic bellows mechanism consists of the rib cage and the diaphragm. The purpose of this study was to determine if nontraumatically acquired lesions of the bellows were secondary to underlying disease. Abnormalities of the bellows, specifically stress fractures of the ribs and hiatal hernia, were found in 21 dogs and cats with underlying cardiopulmonary disease, neuromuscular disease, or metabolic disease. A case-control study of Bulldogs demonstrated that hiatal hernia was associated with the more severe manifestations of brachycephalic syndrome. Stress fractures occurred mostly in females and in cats, and involved multiple ribs. Fractures were usually related to severe respiratory effort, but also occurred in association with metabolic disease. Hiatal hernia was also associated with severe respiratory effort, but may be exacerbated if a neuromuscular disorder affecting the diaphragm is present. Abnormalities of the thoracic bellows, such as rib stress fractures and hiatal hernia, may be signs of underlying disease, rather than being primary causes of disease.

Glycoproteins: a consideration of the potential problems and their solutions with respect to purification and characterisation.

Glycoproteins, as a class of biomolecules, present a number of differences in structure and function from non-glycosylated proteins. This makes their purification and characterisation a potentially daunting prospect. This article provides a brief summary of the occurrence, structure and composition of glycoproteins and the main areas where these factors may complicate the purification and characterisation process. There follows a review of the range of techniques available, an insight into the choices of ways forward in considering glycoprotein purification and characterisation. Appropriate prominence is given to lectins; their application to the purification, identification and characterisation of glycoproteins, and the major contribution they have made to the study of this class of biomolecules.