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Ensuring correct site surgery.
1MedCentral Health Systems, Mansfield, Ohio, USA.
AORN Journal
|December 5, 2002
Summary
Wrong site surgery, a preventable medical error, occurs when procedures are performed on the incorrect patient or body area. Implementing standardized surgical site verification policies is crucial for enhancing patient safety and reducing these errors.
Area of Science:
- Patient Safety
- Surgical Errors
- Healthcare Quality Improvement
Background:
- Medical errors, particularly wrong site surgery, represent a significant patient safety concern in the United States.
- Since 1995, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations sentinel event reporting system has documented 197 cases of wrong site surgery.
- These incidents are preventable and highlight the need for robust safety protocols.
Purpose of the Study:
- To define wrong site surgery and its scope within the healthcare system.
- To identify the underlying causes contributing to wrong site surgery incidents.
- To propose actionable strategies for preventing wrong site surgery through policy development.
Main Methods:
- Review of reported sentinel events related to wrong site surgery.
- Analysis of contributing factors and systemic issues.
- Examination of existing patient safety initiatives, specifically AORN's guidelines.
Main Results:
- Wrong site surgery is defined as surgery on the wrong site, wrong patient, or wrong procedure.
- A significant number of incidents have been reported, underscoring the problem's prevalence.
- The article outlines a framework for developing surgical site verification policies.
Conclusions:
- Wrong site surgery is an unacceptable and avoidable patient safety risk.
- A multidisciplinary perioperative healthcare team must prioritize patient safety.
- Adopting AORN's suggested guidelines for surgical site verification policies can mitigate the risk of these errors.