Comments on: Will video cameras in the OR decrease the rate of wrong-site surgery?

By: Sue

Sue — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:03:55 +0000

“Glenn Rothman, MD, chair of surgery for Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa, Ariz., and a nationally quoted expert on the subject, said an error like the one at Rhode Island Hospital is “extremely hard to prevent” because the entire hand is dressed for surgery, and the structures are smaller and much closer together
ARE YOU KIDDING ME ?!! And this is the nationally quoted expert?
4 yrs college> 4yrs medical school> @ least 3 yrs residency and this is the surgeon you get? Excuses?!
I worked with surgeons for 30 yrs. The issue is Orthopedic & Plastic surgeons in particular like to book the maximum cases allowed in a day, then start adding on” urgent” cases. They demand to go between 2 operating rooms with everything they desire. . Administration bends over backwards and treat them like “rock stars” because they generate income. Often they intimidate the team, so the nurses do not dare challenge them. I have seen it tried and the nurses were severely penalized. The good outcome was they were forever banned from that surgeons room. We had an anesthetist who also had a law degree, Orthopedic surgeon went to Administration about having a lawyer in his OR. She was banned, he tried to have her staff privileges revoked, but Administration @ that moment was more afraid of her promise of definite suit then his temper tantrum. These surgeons want to run case to case, they do not review permits or surgical sites with patients, time is money. All these things set the climate for errors. Wrong surgical site is impossible to hide,other errors are called patients bad protoplasm. Anyone with some time @ a Surgicenter if honest, knows this to be true. Of course this is a generalization, but common enough practice in both these specialties to result in many, many, Surgical meetings. The only way to control their income is to crank out procedures is the reason these surgeons presented to us .A Plastic surgeon once asked our group to work Saturdays for him to help pay his legal fees!! Rhode Island Hospital is the one who got caught. They will be better for it. Sorry this is so long and totally unlike me. I never speak out, but this “expert’s” excuse really pushed my buttons!

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:46:34 +0000

Cameras would seem to alleviate a lot of the second guessing physicians hate.

By: AnnR

AnnR — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:34:05 +0000

That sounds like a hospital to be avoided.

By: ninguem

ninguem — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:03:26 +0000

Can we install them in the administrative offices?

By: Rezmed09

Rezmed09 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:22:03 +0000

In the future, maybe every OR and every ER and every clinic will have a camera for documentation of events. If the priority is to document what happened this will become more common. I can’t imagine the effect it will have on providers. We will need much more training on legalize.

By: SarahW

SarahW — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:34:41 +0000

The cameras will help; there will be less temptation to skip procedures when actions are recorded and observed. There is less chance of a “lets not but say we did” culture surviving as there is no longer a prospect of getting away with shortcuts (as many times the shortcuts have advantages, and no harm results, making it tempting to gamble and skip steps that reduce the probability of mistakes.)