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Policy May Hamper Tests of Methods to Improve Care

Bridget M. Kuehn

JAMA. 2008;299(9):1005-1006.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Sometimes a complicated problem has a simple solution. At least that is what Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, medical director of the Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, has demonstrated through his studies on the use of checklists to reduce errors at hospitals. For example, his published results suggest that implementing a simple checklist system nationwide could substantially reduce the incidence of hospital-acquired blood stream infections, which cost an estimated $3.6 billion each year.

Now, however, Pronovost's ongoing efforts to study the longer-term outcomes of using checklists to reduce infections have been drawn into a debate. At issue is the question of whether such quality improvement research should be required to meet the same standards for protecting human participants as research on the effectiveness of new drugs, devices, or procedures.

A checklist reminding clinicians to wash their hands, use barrier precautions, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

PUTTING CHECKLISTS TO THE TEST