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Constant attention by a good nurse may be just as important as a major operation by a surgeon - Dag Hammarskjold
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How to Make Surgery Safer
Hospitals are trying to make it safer for patients to go under the knife.
Surgery can be risky by its very nature, and the possibility of error or negligence makes it even more so. According to an analysis last year in the journal Patient Safety in Surgery, 46% to 65% of adverse events in hospitals are related to surgery, especially complex procedures. Despite years of prevention efforts, procedures are still performed on the wrong body part and surgical tools are sewn up in patients.
Now the movement to make things safer is taking on new urgency, as advocates inside and outside the surgical community push for a range of changes, and the cost of mishaps mounts.
Hospitals…
Resources
In Image-Guided Operating Suites, Surgeons See Real-Time MRI, CT Scans
Imaging during surgery reduces risk, gives more visual cues from inside in the body.
New Surgical Robots May Get a Boost in Operating Rooms
Even though many doctors see need for improvement, surgical robots are poised for big gains in operating rooms around the world.
Texting From the Operating Room
Hospitals are struggling to develop policies on doctors using cellphones during surgery. They can be both a valuable resource and a dangerous distraction.
The Case for Video Cameras in the Operating Room
Surgeons easily predicted which of their peers had the most complications based on video of one surgery.
The Costs Of Banning Simultaneous Surgery
The way surgeons have been allowed to treat patients and train future surgeons is in jeopardy.
The Operating Room Could Use a Stitch of Civility
Stressful situations are a breeding ground for uncivil behavior. So it’s no surprise that operating rooms — where life and death themselves are at stake — see their fair share of colleague-on-colleague rudeness and even abuse.
The Operating Room: Morning Surgery Gives Rise to Fewer Problems
Researchers analyzed more than 90,000 operations in a database that included information on errors, pain management problems, delays, and postoperative nausea and vomiting. The difference was sizable: the probability of certain types of problems was more than four times as great for operations beginning at 4 p.m. as for those beginning at 9 a.m.
What Are Surgeons Listening to While You're Under the Knife?
While you're getting sliced open, disassembled, and put back together again, the music playing during that chaos is probably the least of your concerns. Although years of training goes into being a surgeon, a human life is always on the line and there’s that looming chance for something to go awry, however slight. That’s why most surgeons listen to music in the operating room, to create a comfortable environment.
When Clean Was a New Concept in the Operating Room
Today, keeping things clean as a way to ward off germs and infections just makes sense. But before antibiotic-resistant superbugs became a hospital’s biggest concern, there were the bad old days when doctors would move from surgery to surgery without washing. And surprisingly it was only during the 20th century that sterilization evolved from a simple and very new concept into one of the most important life-saving practices in medicine.
A Day In The Operating Room — Time Warps For A Cardiac Bypass Patient
In medicine, there is a saying that the training is onerous but the rewards are many. More often than not, these rewards come coated in a myriad of shapes, including lucrative incentives, personal gratification, warm contentment, and a sated joy among many others. For many physicians, a last wound-closure of the day, a smile on their patients’ faces, and warm, heartfelt regards from them carry immense significance. Yet, for many others, lucrative incentives seal their fate, becoming a bane to the integrity of the medical profession as a whole.
Going Under the Knife, With Eyes and Ears Wide Open
More surgery is being performed with the patient awake and looking on, for both financial and medical reasons. But as surgical patients are electing to keep their eyes wide open, doctor-patient protocol has not kept pace with the new practice. Patients can become unnerved by a seemingly ominous silence, or put off by what passes for office humor. Doctors are only beginning to realize that when a patient is alert, it is just not O.K. to say: “Oops!” or “I wasn’t expecting that,” or even “Oh, my God, what are you doing?!”
How Listening to Music Affects Surgeons' Performance
A new study says dance music makes surgeons sloppy, while past research encourages Mozart in the operating room.
How Surgeons Stay Focused for Hours
Organ-transplant surgeons have skills most of us can only dream about. One, concentrating for hours straight, is something we can aspire to.
Inside The Operating Room With Google Glass
"The role of Glass as a surgical and teaching tool is tremendous. And this is only the beginning. New applications--some we can't even imagine yet--will help transform surgery and the surgical experience."
The Growth of VR as a Training Tool
Arguably the most developed application has been in healthcare, and especially in surgical environments. One of the first startups to enter the space was Medical Realities, who developed an augmented reality system to help train surgeons back in 2015.
The Most Beautiful Operating Rooms in the World
Singular Beauty captures the landscape of the cosmetic procedure, from consultation, to surgery, to recovery. Meticulously presented, the photographs reveal clinical settings masquerading as spas and capture operating rooms and surgical instruments that are sleek yet nauseating in their potential.
Why Surgeons Listen To Music In The Operating Room — And How It Could Help You
Music, which is generally chosen by the lead surgeon, is played roughly 62-72 percent of the time in the operating room, according to a new report published in The BMJ. The genre most often chosen is classical music.
How to Make Surgery Safer
Going under the knife is riskier than it should be. What hospitals are doing to reduce human error.
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