Preventing Retained Surgical Items

Retained surgical items (RSIs) continue to be a serious quality problem facing our healthcare system. In fact, RSIs are the most common sentinel event reported to the Joint Commission.1 Root-cause analyses demonstrated that these sentinel events are caused by human factors, leadership, and communication. Although human failures contribute to 80% to 90% of these errors, we continue to ask people to work harder, more efficiently, and safer. Not surprisingly, the rate of RSIs has remained relatively stable in the past decade.

Source: Journal of the American College of Surgeons - November 22, 2021 Category: Surgery Authors: Benjamin D. Kozower Tags: Invited Commentary Source Type: research