[Safety culture in the operating room-an overview]

Reduction and treatment of complications can be achieved through improvement of treatment options, complication management, and the abilities to remedy complications, and through the minimization of errors, respectively. Human-medical error represents an inappropriate treatment, for instance, not administered carefully, correctly or in a timely manner. It can cover all areas of physician-related and medical activities with regard to prophylaxis, diagnosis, selection of treatment modalities, and post-operative care. Different options to minimise errors are the improvement of organizational measures, technical skills and non-technical skills, like social competences. On the basis of a narrative literature research, systems and methods were gathered to describe the possibilities of error identification, research into the causes, and the avoidance of errors.