BOSTON -- Every time a patient is wheeled into an operating room, a decidedly low-tech checklist of 19 simple questions could save their life, doctors said.

"That’s in the books. We have that published," said Dr. Don Berwick, president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, located in Cambridge, Mass. “It's real and it should be used.”

NewsCenter 5 medical editor Dr. Timothy Johnson reported Wednesday that most of the time, according to the IHI, it’s not used. In fact, only about 20 percent of hospitals in the United States has even tried using the proven safety checklist. In some other countries the rate of compliance is far lower.

“This seems like such a simple, straightforward idea that it’s a no-brainer, as we like to say. Why aren’t more hospitals doing it?” Johnson asked.

“ The idea of using a checklist in surgery is a no-brainer. It’s obvious,” said Berwick. “But it involves cultural changes. A lot of us older physicians and nurses, we were trained in a discipline mode not a teamwork mode and we have to change that.”

That’s where medical students from around the world hope to make a difference. A small group has gathered for the month of October at IHI.

Thursday they’ll reach out to their international peers and professionals in a live web cast. Their unique idea is to put medical students - - who now almost always observe operations - - in charge of making sure the 19-point patient safety checklist is used every time a patient goes under the knife.

One of the students, Andrew Carson-Stevens, who’s now attending Cardiff University in Wales said he’s thrilled to be spreading the word about a safety protocol that’s already been proven effective.

“Now we're giving them to students and saying go on have a go. You can do it,” said Carson-Stevens.

“And if it’s done, if they’re successful,” Berwick said, “they’re going to save lives.”

Dan Henderson, a medical student at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine said he fully believes in the power of a few simple questions that take just two minutes to run through.

“You can prevent a complication, something serious, a scar that lasts a lifetime, just by using this checklist 25 times. That's like a week or two for us as students in our rotation,” said Henderson. He said using the checklist 143 times will, on average, prevent a patient’s death.

“I think that's really cool,” said Henderson.

Fellow medical student Shabnam Hafiz attends the University of California at Davis, and has already traveled to Pakistan to work with doctors there on implementing the standard use of this checklist. She said many were receptive to the idea.

And her colleague from Harvard Medican School, Jordan Bohnen, has taken a similar trip to Israel. They all hope Thursday's webcast from IHI will be the beginning of a concerted effort to boost compliance worldwide.

Thursday's Webcast is free and open to anyone who enrolls ahead of time. Click here for more information.