PATIENT SAFETY
February 2024

Increase Noted in Reported Wrong-Site Surgery Events From Interventional Radiology

​​​​​​​​​AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES


Patient Safety Authority (patientsafety.pa.gov) is an independent state agency that oversees the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System (PA-PSRS), the largest database of its kind in the United States.

Abstract

Wrong-site surgery (WSS) is a well-known type of medical error that continues to occur in healthcare facilities. Wrong-site surgery involves all surgical procedures performed on the wrong patient, wrong body part, wrong side of the body, or wrong level of a correctly identified anatomic site. 1,2 ​Wrong-patient surgery may include patients who were never scheduled for a procedure, procedures performed that were not scheduled, and procedures scheduled correctly in which a different one was performed.2

Keywords​
​ wrong-site surgery, interventional radiology, surgery, medical error, events, wrong site, wrong side, wrong procedure

References​

  1. ​Kwaan MR, Studdert DM, Zinner MJ, et al. Incidence, Patterns, and Prevention of Wrong-Site Surgery. Arch Surg. 2006;141(4):353-357. doi:10.1001/​archsurg.141.4.353 Google Scholar 
  2. ECRI. Wrong-Site Surgery. In: Healthcare Risk Control, Supplement A: Surgery and Anesthesia. Vol 26. ECRI; 2003. Google Scholar