![]() Continual education regarding patient safety not only helps health care professionals by inhibiting errors, but also extends to patient well-being. Fortunately, errors can be minimized with proper training, effective communication, and a system of checks and balances. Failures occur by choosing the inappropriate method of care or by poor execution of an appropriate method of care. In this process it is pivotal to recognize that humans make errors. To do so, patient safety systems should focus on building a culture of safety that encourages communication, trust, and honesty. Constant revision of processes and guidelines are in order to optimize patient experience and safety. Patient care must be delivered safely by utilizing safety guidelines based on scientific evidence. the World Health Organization (WHO) pre-operative check list, communication gaps between the surgeons and staff and/or patient, b) organizational processes to prevent errors (Reason’s Swiss cheese model) and miscommunication, culture of safety and conflict resolutions.ĭespite changes in the health care system with new regulatory mandates and reimbursement issues, one constant concern is to ensure exceptional patient safety and care. We reviewed the current issues in patient safety in surgery including: a) general guidelines i.e. These specific characteristics should trigger surgical subspecialties to add their specific patient safety processes and guidelines to the existing global ones. ![]() On a daily basis, surgeons must adjudicate challenges that reach far beyond pure technical aspects - the decision of initiating appropriate and timely surgical care weighed against the risk of providing delayed or negligent care by rather choosing observation and/or non-operative treatment. These include (i) breakdown in communication within and amongst the surgical team, care providers, patients, and their families (ii) delay in diagnosis or failure to diagnose and (iii) delay in treatment or failure to treat. Interestingly, adverse events resulting from surgical interventions are actually more frequently related to errors occurring before or after the procedure than by technical surgical mistakes during the operation. These include the ‘100,000 Lives Campaign’ (2005/2006) and subsequent ‘5 Million Lives Campaign’ (2007/2008) by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), the ‘Surgical Care Improvement Project’ (2006) and ‘Universal Protocol’ (2009) by the Joint Commission, and the WHO ‘Safe Surgery Saves Lives’ campaign accompanied by the global implementation of the WHO surgical safety checklist (2009). More than 200 million surgeries are performed worldwide each year and recent reports reveal that adverse event rates for surgical conditions remain unacceptably high, despite multiple nationwide and global patient safety initiatives over the past decade. The present review article is designed to outline patient safety practices that should be adapted and followed to fit particular specialties. Specific surgical subspecialties are encouraged to develop a specific patient safety curriculum that address training in academic centers and applicability to daily practice, with the goal of keeping our surgical patients safe in all disciplines. ![]() Clearly, redundant safety systems must be in place to decrease errors in surgery, in analogy to safety measures in other high-risk industries. ![]() Therefore, different surgical subspecialties should develop a specific curriculum in patient safety addressing training in academic centers and application of these guidelines in all practices. Safety redundant systems must be in place to decrease errors in surgery. Patient safety in surgical subspecialties should be templated on general patient safety guidelines from other areas of medicine and mental health but include and develop specific processes dedicated for the care of the surgical patients. Current surgical safety guidelines and checklists are generic and are not specifically tailored to address patient issues and risk factors in surgical subspecialties. ![]()
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