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>It was, however, the only Patient Safety Essential that targeted surgical patients specifically during the interval studied.

That's hardly hand-waving.

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That's exactly what hand-waving is. It's bad logic they use to support a conclusion that they then immediately hedge in the following sentence.

Here's the 10 safety essentials check list they are talking about:

http://www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org/news_and_events...

If the checklist is responsible for all of the improvement in surgical outcomes then we can stop doing the rest of the stuff, right? No need to emphasize hand washing or sterile central line because the magic checklist will stop the infection.

I agree. They don't control for external variables.

Even if the checklist was responsible for all of the improvement in surgical outcomes that doesn't mean the other items don't have an affect anywhere else. And again, it's not hand-waving to suggest that the item that has the largest direct impact on surgical operations is mainly responsible for the reduction. There's a difference between you wanting a more thorough study and something being "obviously nonsense".

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