An employee at a NJ surgical center who was stuck with a contaminated needle was not counseled about what to do in the wake of the injury, was not tested in a timely manner for disease and was not provided with appropriate medicine to help him avoid contracting a disease, according to OSHA inspectors, who have cited the Health East Ambulatory Surgical Center for 10 serious violations.
Procedure meant to avoid performing wrong procedures or on wrong sites
February 15, 2013
A “time-out” instituted to eliminate mistakes during surgery is not being complied with by a significant number of medical personnel, according to a new study. “Methodology and Bias in Assessing Compliance with a Surgical Safety Checklist,” published in the February issue of Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, found that although surgical safety checklists -- such as the perioperative time-out -- have been shown to improve performance on a variety of patient safety measures, some of the items on it are being skipped.