The need for teamwork and collaboration between all perioperative members is critical to maintain patient safety. Without the presence of active, ongoing communication between preoperational personal, there is heightened potential for risks and errors. Examples of adverse events include wrong-site surgeries, incorrect procedures, patient mix-ups, overlooking allergens, and errors in listed medications. While perioperative staff is expected to adhere to specific safety protocol to reduce the probability of errors, including preoperative checklists, team briefings amongst nurses, anesthesiologists, and surgeons, etc., mistakes are still made.
Nussmeier, et. al (2013) states, “the critical elements of teamwork can be summarized by six “C’s”: …show more content…
Consequently, teamwork has become an increasingly important focus of system-based interventions to improve patient safety and medical education standards (Manser, 2008). A lack of coordination has been shown to have a direct correlation with decreasing patient satisfaction and increasing occurrences in adverse events. Organizations have previously attributed poor communication as a leading cause of wrong-site surgeries, avoidable operative and postoperative mistakes, delays in treatment, and medication errors (Sexton et. al, 2006). For example, if a circulating nurse responsible for conducting a preoperative assessment does not clearly communicate a patient’s latex allergy to the scrub nurse or surgeon prior to the surgery, the operating room (OR) will not be prepped as latex free. This, in turn, may lead to delayed surgery, or result in the patient suffering an allergic reaction on the operating table. While this may seem like a careless error, studies have shown that in approximately 30% of team exchanges among healthcare staff, inefficient communication was reported to some degree. Further, one-third of these exchanges resulted in jeopardized patient safety due to increasing cognitive load, interrupting routine, and/or increasing tension in the OR Lingard et. al (2004). In essence, most medical blunders are preventable, and …show more content…
I witnessed preoperative assessments, surgical checklists, and time outs, all of which prevented adverse events in the OR. In most of the cases that I observed, if critical information was discovered about the patient, such as medical limitations, allergies, diet, etc., a nurse would promptly intervene and immediately discuss the situation with the anesthesiologist and surgeon to develop a solution. However, I generally noticed conversation between nurses and the surgical team following preoperative assessments. In addition, I noticed how based on these conversations, each surgeon would fill out a preference card outlining how the OR should be set up and the necessary equipment. In reference to Nussmeier, et. al (2013), these interactions would effectively promote communication, coordination, and conflict resolution. However, during the instances when the OR was not appropriately set up, it was concerning to witness the surgeon reprimanding the OR nurse for not adhering to the instructions, or the OR nurse becoming flustered and frustrated with the surgeon for not clearly communicating. These instances were rather troubling because, as previously mentioned, most operative errors occur from poor communication, which often leads to delays in treatment and tension in the
Nussmeier, et. al (2013) states, “the critical elements of teamwork can be summarized by six “C’s”: …show more content…
Consequently, teamwork has become an increasingly important focus of system-based interventions to improve patient safety and medical education standards (Manser, 2008). A lack of coordination has been shown to have a direct correlation with decreasing patient satisfaction and increasing occurrences in adverse events. Organizations have previously attributed poor communication as a leading cause of wrong-site surgeries, avoidable operative and postoperative mistakes, delays in treatment, and medication errors (Sexton et. al, 2006). For example, if a circulating nurse responsible for conducting a preoperative assessment does not clearly communicate a patient’s latex allergy to the scrub nurse or surgeon prior to the surgery, the operating room (OR) will not be prepped as latex free. This, in turn, may lead to delayed surgery, or result in the patient suffering an allergic reaction on the operating table. While this may seem like a careless error, studies have shown that in approximately 30% of team exchanges among healthcare staff, inefficient communication was reported to some degree. Further, one-third of these exchanges resulted in jeopardized patient safety due to increasing cognitive load, interrupting routine, and/or increasing tension in the OR Lingard et. al (2004). In essence, most medical blunders are preventable, and …show more content…
I witnessed preoperative assessments, surgical checklists, and time outs, all of which prevented adverse events in the OR. In most of the cases that I observed, if critical information was discovered about the patient, such as medical limitations, allergies, diet, etc., a nurse would promptly intervene and immediately discuss the situation with the anesthesiologist and surgeon to develop a solution. However, I generally noticed conversation between nurses and the surgical team following preoperative assessments. In addition, I noticed how based on these conversations, each surgeon would fill out a preference card outlining how the OR should be set up and the necessary equipment. In reference to Nussmeier, et. al (2013), these interactions would effectively promote communication, coordination, and conflict resolution. However, during the instances when the OR was not appropriately set up, it was concerning to witness the surgeon reprimanding the OR nurse for not adhering to the instructions, or the OR nurse becoming flustered and frustrated with the surgeon for not clearly communicating. These instances were rather troubling because, as previously mentioned, most operative errors occur from poor communication, which often leads to delays in treatment and tension in the