Improve Surgical Safety

Hospital medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States.

In a study conducted by the Mayo Clinic, in conjunction with the American College of Surgeons, 8.9% of surgeons reported that they had made a major surgical error within the last 3 months – and 1.5 % believed their error resulted in a patient’s death.

According to a medical analysis published by Johns Hopkins Medicine, more than 4,000 serious surgical errors, or “never events” are reported each year. These include retained foreign objects, wrong site, wrong patient, and wrong procedure surgeries. Untold thousands of additional patients are seriously injured by medication errors, anesthesia errors, miscommunication among the surgical team, surgical site infections and other preventable misadventures. Altogether, surgical errors are estimated to cause over $2 billion in excess medical expense each year, much of which goes unreimbursed.

To help your organization reduce or eliminate serious surgical errors and unnecessary expense, Maverick Healthcare Consulting has formed an affiliation with Dr. Richard C. Karl, M.D., Founder and Chairman of the Surgical Safety Institute. The son of a surgeon, Dr. Karl received his medical degree from Cornell and completed his residency at the Washington University School of Medicine. After a position at the University of Chicago, he came to Florida in 1983 as the founding medical director of the Moffitt Cancer Center, which has since joined the ranks of the nation’s top twelve cancer centers.

In addition, Dr. Karl is Richard G. Connar Professor and Chairman Emeritus of Department of Surgery at the University of South Florida College of Medicine. A nationally recognized cancer surgeon, 737-type rated airplane pilot, and acclaimed author, columnist and speaker, Dr. Karl, M.D. has unique insight into the causes and prevention of surgical error. Surgical Safety Institute is the offspring of two of Richard’s life-long loves, surgery and flying.

Dramatic advances in commercial airline safety over the last 30 years convinced him that the successful lessons of the airplane cockpit could translate to the operating theater. Dr. Karl advocates human factor teamwork with the zeal that only a reformed OR dictator can supply. His dramatic presentations and grand rounds on human factors training invariably draw rave reviews and kick start in-house debates on improving patient safety.

To find out how your organization can improve surgical safety and reduce unnecessary expense, please contact us to schedule a comprehensive Surgical Site Diagnostic. During this Diagnostic, Dr. Karl will lead a team in thoroughly evaluating your surgical team and environment, and develop improvement recommendations tailored specifically to your organization.