Rhode Island Hospitals and Surgery Centers Agree to New Protocol

The 12 hospitals and 21 surgery centers in Rhode Island have agreed to a new surgical protocol to prevent wrong-site surgery errors, according to a report in The Providence Journal.

The healthcare providers will rollout the protocol on July 1, but it is expected to take up to a year to train staff and fully implement the new rules, according to the report.

The protocol includes the following steps to prevent wrong-site surgery errors, according to the report:

• The surgeon, one other licensed practitioner (such as a nurse) and the patient or patient's guardian agree to the surgical site, and after this consultation, it is marked with the surgeon's initials.
• The team in the operating room follows a briefing process which includes all team members introducing themselves and stating their roles; the surgeon identifying the patient, the procedure and the surgical site; and the surgeon discussing the plan for the surgery, including the patient's medications, lab or imaging documentation and necessary equipment.
• A surgeon-initiated time-out occurs before the operation, in which everyone agrees on the patient, procedure and site and verifies that the surgeon's initials are visible after prepping and draping.
• Before the team and patient leaves the OR, a surgeon-led debriefing process includes reviewing the postoperative plan of care and discussing what worked well and what could have been done differently during the surgery.

Five wrong-site surgeries have occurred in Rhode Island since 2007 as well as a recent incident in which the wrong eye was anesthetized, but was caught before the patient entered the OR, according to the report.

Read the Journal's report about the new Rhode Island surgery protocol.