(November 12, 2007 - Insidermedicine) Errors during surgery, such as operating on the wrong site, the wrong patient, or the wrong procedure, are rare in eye surgery and can often be prevented. When an error does occur, it can have serious consequences for the patient, the doctor, and the profession, say experts in a report published in the Archives of Ophthalmology.

Here is some information about surgical confusions:
•    Operating on the wrong patient, the wrong site, or the wrong procedure are an increasingly recognized cause of patient illness, and represent the most common type of reportable medical error
•    Since 2004, a Universal Protocol has been adopted to include site marking prior to surgery to identify the exact surgical site, and a time-out immediately before incision to help prevent confusions in all surgical procedures
•    The causes of confusions tend to be faulty systems, processes, and conditions that lead people to make mistakes

To assess the rate of surgical confusions in eye surgery, researchers analyzed more than 100 cases occurring in a 23-year period.

Rates of surgical confusion occurred in one out of 15,000 cases; the most common cases involving wrong lens calculations followed by wrong eye operations and wrong eye anesthesia. Confusions involving the wrong implant or transplant more often caused severe injuries than those involving the wrong eye, patient, or procedure. The Universal Protocol, if implemented, would likely have prevented 85% of the confusions.

If you are scheduled for surgery, find out if your surgeon has adopted the Universal Protocol to help keep a rare but preventable surgical error from occurring. As well, ask to have the surgical site marked with a permanent marker and to be involved in marking the site. This means that the site cannot be easily overlooked or confused. Studies show that patients who are actively involved in making decisions about their care are more likely to have good outcomes.

For Insidermedicine in Depth, I'm Dr. Susan Sharma.