Safety culture in a hospital setting affects surgery results

A New York patient may be nervous about surgery because of the risks that can be associated with a given procedure. The outcome can also be affected by factors outside of the operating room. An individual might select a given surgeon because of their skills, but the care provided after surgery is over is also crucial in a patient's recovery. The non-technical aspects of a hospital experience are referred to as the safety culture.

There are important protocols in place for minimizing a patient's risk of wrong site surgery or other preventable errors. However, issues such as teamwork, communication, response to error, reporting of adverse events and organizational learning can contribute to a safer overall culture throughout a patient's stay in the hospital. A study on colon operations conducted in 2013 at seven Minnesota hospitals assessed 12 factors that are considered to be part of a hospital's safety culture. Of these, 10 were deemed to influence surgical site infection rates. The only two factors evaluated that had no role in the infection rates were transfer of care between teams or shifts and staffing.

Teamwork across units was found to have the least level of variation in the study, and feedback after errors had the greatest level of variation among hospitals. The three most important elements of a positive safety culture identified in the study included willingness to learn from mistakes, elevated interest in implementing the best practices available, and collaboration resulting in benchmark performance. The main shortcoming in the study was the fact that only one type of surgical procedure was considered.

An individual whose health declines during a hospital stay might wonder about legal recourse related to errors by care providers. Issues such as the administration of a wrong drug or negligence resulting in a patient's fall might be examples of potential medical malpractice situations if an injury was suffered. A lawyer might be able to assist in assessing possible negligence issues.