General surgeons face various risks in day-to-day practice. Adverse outcomes related to surgical treatment, diagnosis, and medical treatment can result from a variety of factors, including issues with technical competency, clinical judgment, communication, documentation, and more. The following list offers 15 essential strategies to help general surgeons mitigate risks and enhance patient safety.
- Participate in ongoing performance improvement opportunities to enhance technical surgical skills and ensure competency (e.g., mentoring, continuing education, and ongoing practice performance evaluation).
Read more Bias in healthcare is a persistent issue, both at an institutional level and among individuals. The downstream effect of this problem is evident in negative outcomes and health disparities for various populations. In particular, issues of bias have been noted in research focusing on variances in pain management. Studies have shown that:
Read more Burnout in healthcare is rampant, and it is not limited to one clinical setting or a particular type of provider. Rather, feelings of exhaustion, cynicism, pessimism, detachment, and ineffectiveness can take a grip on healthcare providers of various ages, backgrounds, and specialties and have far-reaching consequences.
Read more The impact of organizational culture on productivity, morale, staff retention, patient outcomes, safety, security, and overall well-being in healthcare is profound. A toxic culture can enable or even encourage a range of inappropriate and harmful behaviors, such as bullying, sexual harassment, and abuses of power. In these situations, the cultural deficiencies and their consequences might be conspicuous. In other circumstances, though, cultural problems might not be toxic in an overt way. Rather, more discreet issues — such as suboptimal processes, workload fatigue, loss of autonomy, and work–life imbalance — can compound to produce a pernicious effect, such as clinician and staff burnout.
Read more One of the key challenges in addressing maternal mortality is the racial disparity that exists. Among high-resource countries, the United States has the highest rate of maternal mortality, and the risk is three to four times higher for black women, according to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement.1
Some contributing factors to the racial disparity include unconscious biases — both institutional and structural racism — and lack of insurance.
Read more An increasing number of pregnant women in the United States have chronic health conditions, such as hypertension, diabetes, and chronic heart disease, which put them at a higher risk of pregnancy complications.When combined with hemorrhage, cardiovascular disease, sepsis, and other health problems, these conditions have been responsible for a large number of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States.
Read more MedPro Group data show that allegations related to surgical treatment represent the largest claims category for gynecology providers (67 percent of all gynecology claims closed between 2008 and 2017). Surgical treatment allegations also account for almost two-thirds of all dollars paid for expense and indemnity costs associated with gynecology claims.
Read more Informed consent, in its basic sense, seems like a fairly straightforward concept. A patient is informed about a proposed test, treatment, or procedure; its benefits and risks; and any alternative options. With this knowledge, the patient decides to either consent or not consent to the recommended plan. In reality, though, informed consent is a more complex process that involves nondelegable duties and varies in scope based on the type of test, treatment, or procedure involved.
When technology is introduced into the mix — particularly advanced technology — the informed consent process can become even more complicated because of additional information that the provider must convey to the patient and that the patient must weigh in his/her decision-making process.
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