Friday 23 May 2025 | 12:45–13:45

Format: Workshop

Stream: tbc

Content filters: Recommended for those new to quality improvement

This session looks at the comprehensive ‘5Rs to Rescue’ model – an African Hospitals Surgical Safety Initiative for reducing surgical deaths. Participants will be taken through each step of the 5Rs model—Risk Assessment, Recognize, Respond, Reassess, and Reflect – to bolster their ability to identify patients at high risk of post-operative complications, and to respond to clinical deterioration early, when is easier, and less resource intensive to rescue patients.

Through engaging case studies, interactive discussions and exercises, attendees will gain practical insights into implementing the 5Rs model. In this session participants explore how to track improvement using outcome data, including visually displaying surgical deaths on an adapted Safety Calendar, and using Run Charts to track percentage mortality against baseline performance.

This session is indispensable for healthcare practitioners, administrators, and policymakers committed to fostering a culture of patient safety in surgical settings by adopting a systematic and evidence-based approach to care. Tracking deaths with the tools explored in this session has application even beyond the surgical discipline.

After this session, participants will:

• Have a good understanding of the Risk Assessment, Recognize, Respond, Reassess, and Reflect (5Rs) model


• Gain insights into the significance of each stage in preventing post-operative complications and promoting patient safety, laying the foundation for effective implementation


• Feel competent to use the adapted Safety Calendar and Run Charts to track death, which assist teams to reflect, and find other ways of proving care to prevent deaths

Maureen Tshabalala Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI); USA

Michele Youngleson Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI); USA

Paulo Borem Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI); USA

Yolanda Walsh Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI); USA