Surgery>>>>>Patient Safety
Question 6#

The root cause of the majority of wrong-site surgeries result from:

A. Communication errors
B. Emergency surgery
C. Multiple procedures
D. Multiple surgeons

Correct Answer is A

Comment:

The risk of performing wrong-site surgery increases when there are multiple surgeons involved in the same operation or multiple procedures are performed on the same patient, especially if the procedures are scheduled or performed on different areas of the body. Time pressure, emergency surgery, abnormal patient anatomy, and morbid obesity are also thought to be risk factors. Communication errors are the root cause in more than 70% of the wrong-site surgeries reported to The Joint Commission. Other risk factors include receiving an incomplete preoperative assessment; having inadequate procedures in place to verify the correct surgical site; or having an organizational culture that lacks teamwork or reveres the surgeon as someone whose judgment should never be questioned.