How much patient safety is too much?
Columnist Robert Kirby talks about the practice of labeling body parts prior to surgery. With the rare stories of wrong-site surgeries, I suppose one cannot be too careful.
Kirby however, wonders about the absurdity of it all: “On another gurney, a patient waiting to have his knee scoped was asked to write “yes” on the appropriate knee. If anyone there was having a colonoscopy, I’ll bet that was interesting . . .
. . . Malpractice litigation must be worse than I thought. Do expectant mothers have to draw these helpful diagrams: ‘Baby comes out here’ with an arrow?”
Indeed.
Related posts:
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- Sued . . . for overtesting
- Is the focus on patient safety creating a generation of indecisive doctors who practice without confidence?
- Don’t assume electronic records equate to patient safety
- Using checklists in the ICU, a real world patient safety success story
- Patient safety and the evidence
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{ 7 comments }
If I had but one leg, or knee, I think marking it would be silly. With two knees to my name, I don’t think it’s going too far to suggest the one that needs attention.
Just in case.
Surgery is expensive and it hurts.
I can kind of see it with people who are seemingly undamaged before surgery. I had a big splint on my left leg when I arrived at the hospital, so it was kind of comical that at least 2 nurses were required to ask me to confirm that my left leg was the intended project.
I giggled a little when three people came and asked what proceedure I was there for and which knee would be operated on, but I would rather be amused and written on than to be the rare case that gets the erroneous treatment. Too much to lose, whatever the body part. I would rather think it is to protect me than to ward off lawsuits. . .
One can, in fact, be too careful.
You can be so careful about rare risks, that you get distracted from the more material ones.
You can be so careful that you don’t get anything done.
You can be so careful that you always confine yourself to standard operating procedures making no serendipitous discoveries.
You can be so careful that art, science and commerce never progress.
You can be so careful that you overplan, overhedge, until life is over and you haven’t lived yet.
I think most hospitals strive to make sure there are other better mechanisms to prevent this kind of wrong-site error, and hopefully those are indeed better and stronger than the almighty Sharpie Pen. But in the worst case scenario, it could help.
I have asked patients to mark their sites. I don’t do it for the surgical team (so much). I do it because the patient feels empowered when they write on their site. It gives them a modicum of control during a time when literally they have none. It sends them the message that I/we are not leaving anything to chance, and that we acknowledge their anxiety.
Eric RN
Phoenix AZ USA
Wrong site surgery is the leading cause of sentinel events in hospitals. It is the cause of approximately 13% (over 600)of them. Such events haven’t changed much despite new rules/regulations by the Joint Commission. To have such a cavalier attitude about this is just asking for trouble. The Joint Commission recommends marking the site of your surgery with a magic marker or confirming with the surgeon before your put under anesthesia For more healthcare discussions visit, http://www.takingcontrolofyourhealthcare.com.
This has nothing to do with malpractice litigation, but of keeping patients safe.
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