[Does Surgical Safety Checklist for cesarean section improve maternal and neonatal outcome?]

Surgical Safety Checklist published by WHO (World Health Organization) has been widely accepted and contributed to reduce postoperative mortality and morbidity. However, the implementation of the original checklist for cesarean section has been questioned as most of the patients for cesarean section being awake at the occasion of time out, and some patients requiring emergency cesarean section. From these points of view, modified versions of the checklist for cesarean section have been proposed. Recently, NPSA (National Patient Safety Agency) and RCOG (Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists) from U. K. published a checklist specifically for obstetric surgery, and its usefulness has been evaluated. The most important modification of the checklist seems to be adoption of classification of urgency of cesarean section by NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence) into the time out Surgical Safety Checklist from U. K. is introduced with its recent evaluation, and its possible adoption in Japanese hospitals will be discussed.