Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
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4 8 O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | J U N E 2 0 1 4 move from the "blame-and-shame" culture of traditional medicine to the culture of safety successfully developed in aviation and manufac- turing. 2. Safety protocols shouldn't be burden- some. Whatever systems you have at your facility to prevent errors, help to make them as little burden as possible and then cham- pion them. To err is human. We're going to make mistakes. We need to catch the mistake before harm occurs. Planes crash because people make assumptions and don't speak up and don't use systems to catch their errors before they cause harm. Focus on the systems that help good healthcare providers catch their errors before they lead to harm. 3. Do a hard-stop time out. It's crucial that there be a systematic and consistent approach to identifying the correct patient, correct operation and correct site before each operation is started. Everyone must stop what they're doing and say, "Let's all put our heads together. Is this the right patient, the right surgery, the right site? Are we prepared?" Errors don't just happen to bad doctors or bad nurses. They happen to the best among us. 4. Encourage frank and open discussion. My message is, let's talk about it. When little things go wrong and the patient is unscathed, we shouldn't be complacent and happy that things worked out. We should say, "Hey, I bet we can learn from every single little thing that didn't go exactly as we wanted it to go." Anything in the surgery that doesn't feel like the best and safest sur- gery is a learning opportunity. That's a conversation you should be having. A lot of times when team members aren't happy, they keep it to themselves. They worry alone. There's a saying: Never worry alone. W R O N G - S I T E S U R G E R Y OSE_1406_part2_Layout 1 6/13/14 11:40 AM Page 48