Quality & Patient Safety

Wrong site surgery rates hold steady

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, Providence Journal, August 15, 2007

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The rate of wrong site, wrong patient, and wrong procedure errors remains steady after years of concerted efforts by hospitals and The Joint Commission to address the problem, according to a Providence Journal article.

As a result, hospitals are reviewing their policies and The Joint Commission is mulling changes to its Univeral Protocol. Part of the problem is the complexity of surgery, according to the article. A small error earlier in the process, such as reversing an X-ray, can lead to serious patient harm, even if all other safety steps are followed correctly.



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