PATIENT SAFETY
From box ticking to the black box: the evolution of operating room safety
Published on
June 1, 2020
World Journal of Urology
Overview
This article discusses the evolution of patient safety initiatives in the operating room, focusing on the shift from reactive to proactive approaches. It highlights how efforts to improve surgical safety have moved beyond traditional retrospective methods to embrace prospective strategies that address system, team, and human factors. The text emphasizes the influence of human factors engineering in developing interventions like the WHO Safety Checklist and operating room recorders, which aim to standardize procedures and mitigate potential harm.
The article suggests that these modern safety interventions represent a significant advancement in the field of surgical safety. By implementing proactive measures, healthcare professionals can potentially identify and address risks before they lead to adverse events. The conclusion points to the need for future research to evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions in improving patient outcomes and reducing iatrogenic harm, underscoring the ongoing evolution of safety practices in the perioperative setting.
Results
Work in human factors and engineering that has inspired safety interventions such as the WHO Safety Checklist, and more recently operating room recorders, represents a movement away from traditional, retrospective or reactive methods of studying surgical safety, to prospective and proactive ones.
