It's hard to believe that operating on the wrong body part or wrong patient still happen. However, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of health care organizations (JCAHO), surgeons have operated on the wrong foot, eye, kidney or other body part 150 times since 1996. Most of the time these cases are settled quietly, but sometimes they become headline news.
A few notorious examples are illustrative of this point. The patient was admitted to Tampa, Florida, hospital in 1995 for the amputation of gangrenous foot had the wrong leg removed. In New York, the patient had surgery on the wrong side of his brain in the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. surgeon, a nationally recognized for her work with breast cancer patients, confused two patients and performed a mastectomy on the wrong patient in November 1998.
JCAHO, alarmed at the continuing high incidence of surgical errors, sentinel issued a warning advising patients to be involved in the effort to the surgical site is well marked before undergoing surgery. This warning, issued in December 2001, a second guard warned the same type of medical errors. The first warning is directed at the wrong site surgery was published in 1998, included a review of 15 cases that were reported to JCAHO. Of the150 cases reported in the current database, operations on the wrong body part accounted for 76% of the cases, while surgery on the wrong patient was 13% of cases. wrong surgical procedure was involved in 11% of cases.
JCAHO, alarmed at the continuing high incidence of surgical errors, sentinel issued a warning advising patients to be involved in the effort to the surgical site is well marked before undergoing surgery. This warning, issued in December 2001, a second guard warned the same type of medical errors. The first warning is directed at the wrong site surgery was published in 1998, included a review of 15 cases that were reported to JCAHO. Of the150 cases reported in the current database, operations on the wrong body part accounted for 76% of the cases, while surgery on the wrong patient was 13% of cases. wrong surgical procedure was involved in 11% of cases.
...Wrong site surgery can have serious consequences for patients and healthcare providers. In response to the first notification in 1998, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has adopted "Sign Your Site" program of preoperative surgical site identification. Surgeons were encouraged that the initial target surgical site using a permanent marker. According to Dr. Terry Canale, a former president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the Academy found that after two years of this campaign only 60% of surgeons were marking their surgical sites.
Wrong site surgery can have serious consequences for patients and healthcare providers. In response to the first notification in 1998, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has adopted "Sign Your Site" program of preoperative surgical site identification. Surgeons were encouraged that the initial target surgical site using a permanent marker. According to Dr. Terry Canale, a former president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the Academy found that after two years of this campaign only 60% of surgeons were marking their surgical sites.
...warnings also offers concrete steps for providers to reduce the risk of incorrect operation. JCAHO recommended services:
warnings also offers concrete steps for providers to reduce the risk of incorrect operation. JCAHO recommended services:
...* * require that the surgical site to be marked.
...* develop a verification check.
...* develop a verification check.
...* require each member of the surgical team verbally verify the identity of the patient, the planned surgical procedure and site, with the patient after the patient arrives in the operating room.
...By focusing national attention on this issue, JCAHO hopes to eliminate these errors to avoid. Lets hope that the third sentinel alert on this topic will not be necessary.
