Page 46 - Avoiding Surgical Mishaps Part 1

SVMIC Avoiding Surgical Mishaps: Dissecting the Risks

• Chronic narcotic use

• Diabetes

• Tobacco usage

Careful triage based on a patient’s history can help avoid

unnecessary assessment of low-risk patients and ensure that
necessary assessments for higher-risk patients are completed

before the day of surgery.

Documentation includes not only writing/typing notes in the
record but also reviewing pertinent documentation available to

the surgeon before beginning a procedure. These include, but
are not limited to:

• Sleep studies

• Labs

• Medications and allergies

• Cardiac or other preoperative clearance

In the rush to start a procedure, for example, the surgeon may

not wait for lab values to return. Pending laboratory tests should

not be ignored. For non-emergencies, all preoperative labs
that could potentially change your course of action should be
available and read. As discussed elsewhere, the EHR’s audit

trail will reveal whether or not existing records were accessed.

Remember that all lab and diagnostic results will be in the
patient’s medical record and available to a plaintiff’s attorney
by the time it is reviewed in a subsequent malpractice case.

Retrospectively, you may appear negligent if you have not

reviewed all of the information that was potentially available to

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