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S U R G I C A L
S I T E
M A R K I N G
Marking Madness
H
ow do your doctors mark the surgical
site? There are only 2 correct answers,
only 2 virtually unmistakable and universally
Anything other
than "yes" or the
surgeon's initials is a
written invitation to
wrong-site surgery.
accepted ways to identify the correct site —
write YES or the surgeon's initials at the site of
Dan O'Connor
Editor-in-Chief
the incision. But depending on which OR
you're in and which surgeon happens to be holding the permanent marker, you're just as likely to see J or ¸ as what you're supposed to see: YES
or the surgeon's initials (or both).
Just like your patients, site marks come in all shapes and sizes.
Several unorthodox methods of marking reared their purple heads in
CUT WHERE? Surgical site marking
can vary greatly, with smiley faces,
asterisks and arrows among the
many symbols used to note the proposed incision.
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