Preventing Surgical Errors
When your doctor recommends surgery, it can make you feel alone and afraid. Taking steps to be prepared will help you feel more in control.
When your doctor recommends surgery, it can make you feel alone and afraid. Taking steps to be prepared will help you feel more in control.
Mistakes can happen during surgery. Surgeons can do the wrong surgery. They can operate on the wrong part of your body. Or they can operate on the wrong person. Hospitals and other medical facilities that are accredited by The Joint Commission must follow a procedure that helps surgeons avoid these mistakes. (Facilities that are accredited by The Joint Commission are listed on The Joint Commission’s Quality Check website: www.qualitycheck.org.)
Mistakes can also happen before or after surgery. A patient can take the wrong medicine. Or they don’t understand the instructions about how to take care of themselves. As a patient, you can make your care safer by being an active, involved and informed member of your health care team.
The staff will ask you to sign an Informed Consent form. Read it carefully. It lists:
Make sure everything on the form is correct. Make sure all of your questions have been answered. If you do not understand something on the form – speak up.
They will also double-check the records from your doctor’s office.
Article From: www.jointcommission.org