Communication plays an important role in every aspect of life. The importance becomes multi fold when it comes to save the life of a human being. The situation is so crucial that the single error can take a living human being to a tragic death.
The communication between the operation team and the nurses going to take care of the patient is a beneficial process. Another aspect is the involvement of the patients and their family to make the treatment fruitful for the patient. The causes of surgical errors are numerous. They include OR schedule changes; time pressures, and missing patient information, nurses say. The multiple hands through which patients pass from admissions to pre-op also provide ample opportunities for communication errors.
“Human factors cause surgical errors,” says Jaye Sutton, RN, director of the OR, Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, Rockville, Md. “The surgical team works long shifts and covers call, both of which compound fatigue.” The amount of activity, noise, and even music in the OR can distract a health care professional who may insert an IV into the wrong arm, prompting the surgeon to operate accidentally on the “good” one.
Lack of communication is the No. 1 factor that causes surgical error, according to many nurses. It can cause OR staff, surgeons, and anesthetists to make incorrect assumptions that lead to errors. “We talk quickly, use slang, and wear masks that hinder normal communication,” says Sutton. “The usual clues you look for when communicating, such as reading lips in sync with what the person’s saying, are missing.”
JCAHO’s Universal Protocol tackles the communication problem with three steps: improving the preoperative verification process, marking the operative site, and participating in a surgical team “Time Out” to ensure all members agree about the identity of the patient, the procedure, and the surgical site..........
