Prevention of wrong-site and wrong-patient surgical errors

Surgical errors recorded between 2002 and 2008 in a US medical liability insurance database have been analysed. Twenty-five wrong-patient procedures were recorded, resulting in 5 serious adverse events: three unnecessary prostatectomies were performed after prostate biopsy samples were mislabelled; vitrectomy was performed on the wrong patient in an ophthalmology department after confusion between two patients with identical names; and a child scheduled for adenoidectomy received a tympanic drain. There were also 107 wrong-site procedures, with one death resulting from implantation of a pleural drain on the wrong side. Another 38 patients experienced significant harm: 5 patients had surgery on the wrong vertebrae; 4 had chest tubes placed on the wrong side; 4 underwent vascular surgery at the wrong site; and 4 underwent resection of the wrong segment of the intestine. In addition, there were: 4 organ resection errors; 6 wrong-site or wrong-sided limb surgeries; 2 wrong-sided ovariectomies; 2 wrong-sided eye operations; 2 wrong-sided craniotomies; 2 wrong-sided ureteric procedures; 1 wrong-sided maxillofacial operation; and 2 radiation therapy field errors. Most errors were due to poor communication, incorrect diagnosis, or failure to implement a final set of preoperative checks. Other studies conducted in the United Kingdom and the United States have provided similar results, while data are lacking in France. The World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist is an effective way of preventing such errors but its adoption by healthcare professionals is variable. In practice, surgical errors involving the wrong patient or wrong body site are preventable. Final pre-operative checks must be applied methodically and systematically.This includes asking the patient to confirm his/her identity and the intended site of the operation. Healthcare staff must be aware of these measures.