Q
What's your outlook for wrong-site surgery?
Since 2010 we've seen a decrease in reported wrong-site sur-
geries of about 40%. They've been dropping every year, albeit
slower and slower each year. The Universal Protocol started in 2004,
and was the first real effort to solve the problem, but it hasn't com-
pletely yet. In 2007 we studied why, and found that it's not that it does-
n't work, it's that it has to be done properly to work.
This really is something that we want to tackle and eliminate.
Compared to other mistakes that happen in the OR, there really is no
patient or disease that wrong-site surgery can be attributed to. It's
something with known solutions. The number should be zero. OSM
9 1
January 2015 | O U T PAT I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T
E-mail kgapinski@outpatientsurgery.net.
