Improving surgical safety for patients

People in New York and throughout the country who need surgery can be made safer with staff training that focuses on combining teamwork and communication along with systems improvement. Papers published in the journal Annals of Surgery describe studies by researchers at Oxford University's Department of Surgical Sciences that examined five different approaches to training surgical staff to increase safety. The researchers looked at two different systems approaches, one cultural approach and two combination approaches.

One problem with the cultural approach was that while it tended to motivate staff members, they were unable to change procedure. Staff members who were able to change their systems did so but lacked the motivation that the cultural changes provided. Therefore, a combined approach was the most effective.

One researcher with the study also noted that frontline staff need expert help in tackling patient safety issues. Alone, they lack the time and the resources to address the issues. Therefore, health care organizations need to work to link up their staff with these experts.

Improving procedures and along with the workplace culture of teamwork and communication are both important because surgical errors do still occur. These might include medication errors, pre-operative errors, wrong-site surgery or other mistakes. In some cases, these errors might significantly affect a patient's health and recovery. A patient may face a longer recovery period and incur higher medical expenses. The patient or the patient's family may want to discuss whether medical malpractice has occurred with an attorney, and it might be advisable to file a lawsuit against the hospital and the particular health care practitioners seeking compensation for the losses that have been incurred.