N E V E R
E V E N T S
scheduler who made the change to confirm. Document not only that a change
Easy Fixes for Avoiding
Wrong-Site Surgery
cedures in and of themselves from a
wrong-site point of view. Have your med-
was made, but also include the physician's
ical director, anesthesia staff and director
orders that substantiated it
in the patient's record.
2. Pause before
regional. At the time of
the pilot project, my center
wasn't doing much ortho, so
SIGN ON Surgeons should
mark sites as close as
possible to the incision.
"Never think,
'Oh, we're not going
to have a wrong-site
surgery.' Once you fall
into complacency,
you've set yourself up
to make mistakes."
of nursing put together a policy stating that time outs need
to happen with all regional
blocks, and add a step to perioperative documentation to
record the time-out's completion. It's not necessary to
reinvent the wheel, just reinforce that the
our process for placing blocks still needed
safety mindset before injection should be
correcting, as blocks are considered pro-
Identify and
correct the little
things that lead
to errors.
regional blocks weren't done regularly. But
the same as before incision.
Kelli Ruiz | Orange, Calif.
T
he Joint Commission recruited
for improvement.
the surgery center I ran in 2010 to
join its pilot program aimed at
1. Pre-surgery validation. On the
improving safeguards to prevent wrong-
morning before the next surgical day, fax
site, -side and -patient surgical procedures.
the case schedule to the surgeons' offices.
We went on to make 3 key enhancements
By noon, their offices must check the
to our policies and procedures. They might
schedule against their records, sign off on
not strike you as major overhauls, but the
the patients and their scheduled proce-
fact is, the mundane, little things — the
dures, and return their approvals by fax. If
ones that can be easily overlooked — are
the fax-back contains a correction of any
probably your best areas of opportunity
kind, immediately place a call to the
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E | J A N U A R Y 2013
J A N U A R Y 2013 | S U P P L E M E N T
TO
O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E
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