[How frequently is the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist used?].

BACKGROUND Through its patient safety programme «In safe hands,» the Norwegian Directorate of Health's objective is to ensure that the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist is used for all relevant surgical procedures. The purpose of this study was to investigate the recorded use of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist, as well as to illuminate the factors that covary with its use, in order to be able to identify improvement measures.MATERIAL AND METHOD All surgical operations were reviewed at five surgical units at St Olavs Hospital Health Trust in three two-week periods in 2013.