Towards better patient safety in otolaryngology: characteristics of patient injuries and their relationship with items on the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist

The creation of a pediatric surgical checklist for adult providers

PURPOSE

To address the need for a pediatric surgical checklist for adult providers.

BACKGROUND

Pediatric surgery is unique due to the specific needs and many tasks that are employed in the care of adults require accommodations for children. There are some resources for adult surgeons to perform safe pediatric surgery and to assist such surgeons in pediatric emergencies, we created a straightforward checklist based on current literature. We propose a surgical checklist as the value of surgical checklists has been validated through research in a variety of applications.

METHODS

Literature review on PubMed to gather information on current resources for pediatric surgery, all papers on surgical checklists describing their outcomes as of October 2023 were included to prevent a biased overview of the existing literature. Interviews with multiple pediatric surgeons were conducted for the creation of a checklist that is relevant to the field and has limited bias.

RESULTS

Forty-two papers with 8,529,061 total participants were included. The positive impact of checklists was highlighted throughout the literature in terms of outcomes, financial cost and team relationship. Certain care checkpoints emerged as vital checklist items: antibiotic administration, anesthetic considerations, intraoperative hemodynamics and postoperative resuscitation. The result was the creation of a checklist that is not substitutive for existing WHO surgery checklists but additive for adult surgeons who must operate on children in emergencies.

CONCLUSION

The outcomes measured throughout the literature are varied and thus provide both a nuanced view of a variety of factors that must be taken into account and are limited in the amount of evidence for each outcome. We hope to implement the checklist developed to create a standard of care for pediatric surgery performed in low resource settings by adult surgeons and further evaluate its impact on emergency pediatric surgery outcomes.

FUNDING

Fulbright Fogarty Fellowship, GHES NIH FIC D43 TW010540.

The Creation of a Pediatric Surgical Checklist for Adult Providers

Purpose

To address the need for a pediatric surgical checklist for adult providers.

Background

Pediatric surgery is unique due to the specific needs and many tasks that are employed in the care of adults require accommodations for children. There are some resources for adult surgeons to perform safe pediatric surgery and to assist such surgeons in pediatric emergencies, we created a straightforward checklist based on current literature. We propose a surgical checklist as the value of surgical checklists has been validated through research in a variety of applications.

Methods

Literature review on PubMed to gather information on current resources for pediatric surgery, all papers on surgical checklists describing their outcomes as of October 2022 were included to prevent a biased overview of the existing literature. Interviews with multiple pediatric surgeons were conducted for the creation of a checklist that is relevant to the field and has limited bias.

Results

42 papers with 8529061 total participants were included. The positive impact of checklists was highlighted throughout the literature in terms of outcomes, financial cost and team relationship. Certain care checkpoints emerged as vital checklist items: antibiotic administration, anesthetic considerations, intraoperative hemodynamics and postoperative resuscitation. The result was the creation of a checklist that is not substitutive for existing WHO surgery checklists but additive for adult surgeons who must operate on children in emergencies.

Conclusion

The outcomes measured throughout the literature are varied and thus provide both a nuanced view of a variety of factors that must be taken into account and are limited in the amount of evidence for each outcome. We hope to implement the checklist developed to create a standard of care for pediatric surgery performed in low resource settings by adult surgeons and further evaluate its impact on emergency pediatric surgery outcomes.

Funding

Fulbright Fogarty Fellowship, GHES NIH FIC D43 TW010540.

Patient injuries from tonsil and adenoid surgery in Finland

Objectives

The aims of this national register-based study were to examine patient injury claims related to tonsil and adenoid surgery injuries and to compare the frequency of claims between tonsillectomies and tonsillotomies in Finland.

Methods

We analyzed the complaints related to tonsil and adenoid surgery received by the Finnish Patient Insurance Center (PIC) between the years 2000 and 2019. One hundred seventy-two cases were included in the analysis. The annual surgery rates between the years 2000 and 2018 were acquired from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.

Results

During the years 2000 to 2018, a total of 292,679 patients had tonsil and/or adenoid surgery nationwide. For tonsil or adenoid surgeries, the national average was 5.3 cases and 1.8 cases per 10,000, respectively, resulting in patient injury claims and compensations. A total of 33.1% of the claims regarding tonsil or adenoid surgery processed by the PIC were compensated. Most of the claims were made after a tonsillectomy (87.8%), and few were made after a tonsillotomy (1.7%). Seven deaths were recorded.

Conclusion

Patient injuries from tonsil and adenoid surgeries were mostly related to traditional extracapsular tonsillectomies. Most surgeries, along with most complications, involved specialists, who performed routine operations in high-volume centers. Surgeries for acute or recurrent infections resulted in more claims. Severe complications arising from tonsil and adenoid surgeries were rare.

Level of Evidence

4.

Litigation in pediatric otorhinolaryngology: Lessons in improving patient care

OBJECTIVE(S)

Medico-legal claims involving children place a substantial financial burden on health services and have a profound emotional and psychological impact on clinicians. Our objective was to analyze both the common causes and cost of litigation in pediatric otorhinolaryngology.

METHODS

A retrospective review of all clinical negligence claims within pediatric otolaryngology (0-17 years inclusive) in NHS (National Health Service) England held by the clinical negligence service 'NHS Resolution between' 4/2013 and 4/2020.

RESULTS

There were 100 claims in pediatric otorhinolaryngology accounting for an estimated potential total cost of just under £49 million with an average of 14 claims per year. Over half (52%) of claims were related to an operation with cause codes "Operator Error/Intra-Op Problem", "Diathermy Injury" and "Failure to Warn - Consent" most cited. The most common operation cited in a claim was tonsillectomy with an average cost per claim of £47,084. There were 21 claims coded as either "failure to diagnose" or "failure to treat" in relation to cholesteatoma, with an average cost per claim of £61,086.

CONCLUSION

This is the largest study to date analyzing the reasons and potential cost of clinical negligence claims within pediatric otolaryngology. Many learning opportunities exist to reduce patient morbidity, mortality and improve the patient experience through litigation data analysis.

Compensated and non-compensated patient injury claims in internal carotid artery interventions in Finland, 2004-2017

OBJECTIVES

Analysis of patient injuries offers possibilities for improving quality in patient care. The aim of this study was to identify errors and adverse events leading to patient injuries in the treatment of internal carotid artery stenosis (ICAS).

METHODS

A retrospective analysis was performed on data from Finnish patient injury claims and patient insurance center decisions in the treatment of ICAS, 2004-2017. Contributing factors to injury were identified and evaluated.

RESULTS

During the 14-year study period, 42 patient injury claims involving ICAS treatment were closed in Finland. One claim involved carotid artery stenting, and the other operations were carotid artery endarterectomies. Nine of the claims were compensated (seven for operations and two for evaluations). Fully trained vascular surgeons had carried out all the operations and evaluations. Stroke was the most common complaint in the claims (n = 12). Six of the compensated patients were symptomatic prior to the interventions. Injuries were related to errors in decision-making and patient selection in two cases. Four patients received compensation for nerve injury and three for stroke. No deaths were compensated as patient injuries. Most negative claim decisions were related to the injury having been unavoidable.

CONCLUSION

Compensated patient injuries involving the treatment of ICAS are rare but often serious and mostly involve open surgery. Patient injury claims provide a valuable source of information for recognizing errors in care and offer possibilities to improve patient safety.

Compensated Patient Injuries in the Treatment of Abdominal Aortic and Iliac Artery Aneurysms in Finland: A Nationwide Patient Insurance Registry Study

OBJECTIVES

Patient injury claims data and insurance records provide detailed information on patient injuries. This study aimed to identify the errors and adverse events that led to patient injuries in vascular surgery for the treatments of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) and iliac artery aneurysms (IAA) in Finland. The study also assessed the severity and preventability of the injuries.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A retrospective analysis of Finnish Patient Insurance Centre's insurance charts of compensated patient injuries in the treatment of AAA and IAA. Records of all compensated patient injury claims involving AAA and IAA between 2004 and 2017 inclusive were reviewed. Contributing factors to injury were identified and classified. The injuries were assessed for their preventability by using the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist correctly. The degree of harm was graded by Clavien-Dindo classification.

RESULTS

Twenty-six patient injury incidents were identified in the treatment of 23 patients. Typical injuries involved delays in diagnosis or treatment, errors in surgical technique or injuries to adjacent anatomic organs. Three (13.0%) patients died due to patient injury. Two deaths were caused by delays in diagnosis of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (RAAA) and the third death was due to missed diagnosis of post-operative myocardial infarction. Retained foreign material caused injuries to two (8.7%) patients. One (4.3%) patient had a severe postoperative infection. Three (13.0%) patients experienced an injury to an adjacent organ. One patient had a bilateral and another a unilateral above-the-knee amputation due to patient injury. Three injuries were considered preventable. Most harms were grade IIIb Clavien-Dindo classification in which injured patients required a surgical intervention under general anesthesia.

CONCLUSIONS

Compensated patient injuries involving the treatment of AAA and IAA are rare, but are often serious. Injuries were identified during all stages of care. Most injuries involved open surgical procedures.

Implementation of a surgical safety checklist in Brazil: cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVE

to identify the implementation process of the World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist in Brazilian hospitals.

METHODS

this is a cross-sectional study with 531 participants during a Congress of Perioperative Nursing, promoted by the Brazilian Association of Operating Room Nurses, Anesthetic Recovery and Material and Sterilization Center, in 2017.

RESULTS

among the nursing professionals included, 84.27% reported the checklist implementation in the workplace. Regarding daily application in the Sign-in stage, 79.65% of professionals confirmed patient identification with two indicators; in the Time-out stage, 51.36% of surgeries started regardless of confirmation of one of the items. In the Sign-out stage, 69.34% of professionals did not count or occasionally counted the surgical instruments and suture needles, and only 36.36% reviewed concerns about postoperative recovery.

CONCLUSION

this study identified needs for improvements in applying the checklist in the Brazilian reality, to guarantee safer surgical procedures.

Prevalence of major structures injury in thyroid and neck surgeries: a national perspective

Background

The objectives of the study is to examine the prevalence and burden of major structures injury (pharynx, esophagus, trachea, larynx, lymphatic, vessels & nerves) in patients who underwent thyroid, parathyroid, and neck dissection surgeries in the United States.

Methods

The study is a retrospective cross-sectional analysis utilizing the Nationwide Readmissions Database, 2010-2015. The study population included adults (≥18 years) patients who underwent thyroid, parathyroid, and neck dissection surgeries.

Results

A total of 54,443 patients were included. Major structures injury was reported in 221 (0.48%) patients. The injured structures were vascular (0.22%), lymphatic (0.18%), pharynx/esophagus (0.06%), neural (0.03%), and trachea/larynx (0.002%). The risk of injury increased annually during the study period (OR: 1.29, 95% CI: 1.16, 1.44, P<0.001). The risk of injury was highest in patients who underwent thyroidectomy with neck dissection (1.01%) or neck dissection alone (1.81%) (P<0.001 each). The risk was also highest for patients with a head and neck cancer diagnosis (OR: 1.80, 95% CI: 1.24, 2.61, P=0.002). Patients with those injuries had a higher prevalence of blood transfusion (2.82% vs. 0.17%), postoperative fistula (3.10% vs. 0.03%), readmission (28.90% vs. 3.59%), and postoperative mortality (0.87% vs. 0.06%) (P<0.05 each). Management of patients with those injuries was associated with a longer hospital stay by 4.86±0.48 days (P<0.001), and a higher cost by $16,151.00±173.36 (P<0.001).

Conclusions

Injuries of major structures in thyroid and neck surgeries are more prevalent in cancer patients. There has been a recent increase in the risk of such injuries in the United States. Those injuries are associated with significant clinical and economic burden.

Patient injuries in the treatment of superficial venous insufficiency registered in Finland between 2004 and 2017

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to identify the unintended incidents that led to patient injuries (PIs) in the treatment of superficial venous insufficiency (SVI).

METHODS

PI claims filed with the Finnish Patient Insurance Centre between 2004 and 2017 involving SVI were reviewed. Factors contributing to PI were identified and classified.

RESULTS

Eighteen (13.2%) of 136 compensated PIs in the specialty of vascular surgery were related to SVI. Only 4.7% of 383 SVI claims were compensated. The incidence of PIs was 9.9 per 100 000 patients. Fifteen patients had open surgery (83.3%) and three (16.7%) endovenous treatment. Two (11.1%) patients had necrotising fasciitis, four (22.1%) had deep vein injuries and two (11.1%) had a permanent nerve injury. Two (11.1%) patients had retained endovenous material that required surgical removal.

CONCLUSIONS

PIs were identifiable during all stages of care, perioperative injuries related to open surgery being the most common.

Intraoperative Sentinel Events in the Era of Surgical Safety Checklists: Results of a National Survey

OBJECTIVE

Despite the implementation of advanced health care safety systems including checklists, preventable perioperative sentinel events continue to occur and cause patient harm, disability, and death. We report on findings relating to otolaryngology practices with surgical safety checklists, the scope of intraoperative sentinel events, and institutional and personal response to these events.

STUDY DESIGN

Survey study.

SETTING

Anonymous online survey of otolaryngologists.

METHODS

Members of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery were asked about intraoperative sentinel events, surgical safety checklist practices, fire safety, and the response to patient safety events.

RESULTS

In total, 543 otolaryngologists responded to the survey (response rate 4.9% = 543/11,188). The use of surgical safety checklists was reported by 511 (98.6%) respondents. At least 1 patient safety event in the past 10 years was reported by 131 (25.2%) respondents; medication errors were the most commonly reported (66 [12.7%] respondents). Wrong site/patient/procedure events were reported by 38 (7.3%) respondents, retained surgical items by 33 (6.4%), and operating room fire by 18 (3.5%). Although 414 (79.9%) respondents felt that time-outs before the case have been the single most impactful checklist component to prevent serious patient safety events, several respondents also voiced frustrations with the administrative burden.

CONCLUSION

Surgical safety checklists are widely used in otolaryngology and are generally acknowledged as the most effective intervention to reduce patient safety events; nonetheless, intraoperative sentinel events do continue to occur. Understanding the scope, causes, and response to these events may help to prioritize resources to guide quality improvement initiatives in surgical safety practices.

Patient injuries in pediatric otorhinolaryngology

OBJECTIVES

Patient injuries in children can have lifelong effects on the patient and a marked impact on the whole family. The aim of this study was to identify the errors and incidents leading to patient injuries in pediatric otorhinolaryngology (ORL) by evaluating accepted patient injury claims.

METHODS

The records of all accepted patient injury claims in ORL between 2001 and 2011 were searched from the nationwide Patient Insurance Centre registry. Pediatric injuries were reviewed and evaluated in detail, and factors contributing to injury were identified.

RESULTS

In the 10-year study period, 17 (7.6%) of the 223 patient injuries occurred in children, and of these, 15 (88%) were considered operative care. The median age of the patients was 8 years (range 3-16 years). All operations were performed as daytime elective surgery and by a fully trained specialist in 93% of the cases. One-half of the cases were routine surgeries for common ORL diseases. The most common incidences were incomplete surgery, retained gauze or foreign body, injury to adjacent anatomic structure, and insufficient charts or instructions (each occurred in 3 cases). The most frequent consequence was burn (n = 4). One child died because of post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage.

CONCLUSIONS

Patient injuries in pediatric ORL are strongly related to surgery. Most injuries occurred after routine operations by a fully trained specialist. Clinicians should be aware of the most likely scenarios resulting in claims.

Iatrogenic patient injuries in otology during a 10-year period: review of national patient insurance charts

OBJECTIVE

To assess patient injury characteristics and contributing factors in otology.

METHODS

Data on the accepted patient-injury claims involving otorhinolaryngology (ORL), closed between 2001 and 2011, from the Finnish Patient Insurance Centre registry was retrieved. We included all injuries concerning otology, with evaluation and classification of their causes and types.

RESULTS

During the 10-year study period, a total of 44 claims were accepted as compensated patient injuries in otology. From a total of 233 patient injuries in all ORL, this amounted to 19%. In outpatient care, occurred 12 (27%) injuries and in surgical procedures 32 (73%). Five (11%) patients were children. Errors in surgical technique were identified as the primary cause of the injury in 22 (69%) operation-related cases. Failure to remove all auricular tampons or packing in postoperative control was a contributing factor in 4 (13%) injuries, a facial nerve was damaged in 9 (28%) operations, and in 12 (38%) patients, the injury resulted in severe hearing loss or deafness. Six patients (21%) needed one or more re-operations related to the injury, of which two were due to an incomplete primary operation.

CONCLUSION

Typical compensated patient injuries in operative otology resulted from common complications of common operations in high volume centres.