Page 51 - Avoiding Surgical Mishaps Part 1

SVMIC Avoiding Surgical Mishaps: Dissecting the Risks

errors, complications, and injuries in healthcare is diminishing.

Now, the concept of a complication-free experience is more
achievable.

Among other risk-prevention benefits, effective systems can:

• Help reduce adverse events and claims by decreasing
reliance

on memory or informal mechanisms

• Include processes or workflow throughout the office

• Include protocols and methods applied in the surgical suite

• Improve patient outcomes

• Improve the healthcare team’s own professional life

Promoting a highly competent, well-trained, and conscientious
staff is important. For optimal systems and process

development, encourage all team members to participate in the

design and implementation of the system or process. Strive to
ensure the end user is involved in the design and encouraged
to critique the process and participate in continuous refinement

of systems and processes. It should go without saying that

working more effectively in teams leads to more effective
systems.

This graph shows the breakdown of systems issues in the
surgical specialties. Note that the issues on the left side of the

graph, representing nearly 50 percent of all systems-related risk
issues, are usually found in the physician’s office. This includes

failures by the tracking system to monitor for the return of test
results, failure to notify patients of abnormal results, and failure

to follow-up on patients that were no-shows for follow-up
appointments.

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