Top 9 risk factors leading to wrong-site surgery

According to the Joint Commission, 1,102 wrong-patient, wrong-site or wrong-procedure surgeries occurred from 2004 through 2014, even though they are preventable.

In a recent piece for Periop Insider, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses outlined the top nine reasons that could lead to a wrong-site surgery, broken down in three categories. They are:

During surgical booking

  1. Errors on the booking form or illegible information
  2. An unapproved form was used for booking
  3. The booking form was not received within 48 hours of surgery

During pre-op

  1. Inadequate patient verification by surgeon
  2. Inadequate patient verification by anesthesia provider
  3. Documents like consent, history and physical, surgeon booking orders or OR schedule were missing or incorrect

In the OR

  1. Patient's name, identifier and intended procedure were not read
  2. Team members did not stop talking and activities without being prompted from a team member
  3. No one visually and verbally confirmed the correct site mark during time out

AORN pulled this information from data from the Targeted Solutions Tool for Safe Surgery from the Joint Commission.

Copyright © 2024 Becker's Healthcare. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy. Linking and Reprinting Policy.

 

Featured Whitepapers

Featured Webinars