[Crux1024]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,339270,00.html

"The woman woke up to find she had been mixed up with another patient suffering from incontinence who was to have surgery on her sphincter."

Can i just say WOW?

[scarymary]

Originally Posted by Crux1024

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,339270,00.html

"The woman woke up to find she had been mixed up with another patient suffering from incontinence who was to have surgery on her sphincter."

Can i just say WOW?

I heard of a nurse who gave pt in bed 1 some Picolax in preparation for major bowel surgery. Then went back later with the next lot. Pt in bed 2 said 'I'm sure I should get some of that stuff, my op is in the morning'

Turned out that bed 1 was having a minor op on his arm and bed 2 was having a bowel resection.

Pt in bed 1 didn't appreciate it one bit.

The nurse got written up for it.

[Miss_Chybil]

Ridiculous - and I don't mean that in a good way, either. I just finished reading the article about the surgeon who removed a patient's good kidney instead of the cancerous one. It's a nightmare.

[snowfreeze]

Welcome to the era of private rooms, bar code ID bands and scanners along with co-signing on lots of stuff.
I want to see the "time out" sheet on that surgery!!!!!!!!! Whoa and so does her lawyer.

[CHATSDALE]

i bet that lawyer is grinning from ear to ear

[tamara r]

The only thing I can say is right patient, right time, etc. etc. etc. check and recheck! We get slack! It's not good. We can be overworked and over tired
'

Originally Posted by scarymary

I heard of a nurse who gave pt in bed 1 some Picolax in preparation for major bowel surgery. Then went back later with the next lot. Pt in bed 2 said 'I'm sure I should get some of that stuff, my op is in the morning'

Turned out that bed 1 was having a minor op on his arm and bed 2 was having a bowel resection.

Pt in bed 1 didn't appreciate it one bit.

The nurse got written up for it.

[iceyspots]

I guess that brings new meaning to ripping someone a new .... ahem...

[BabyRN2Be]

My brother just had surgery last Friday on his knee and he was terrified they'd screw up and would do the wrong knee. He took blue magic marker and wrote on the bad knee. "Cut here, THIS knee. -TH" (his initials). He just didn't want to take the chance of the wrong knee being worked on.

[ocankhe]

This incident took place in Germany and I wonder if they have the same saety protocols that we have in this country. Surgeons signing the site of surgery pre-op, taking a time out before surgery to verify identity and type of surgery with the patient, etc. We must be cautious not to take shortcuts with all these safety proceedures less we to find ourselves involved in a situation as described above. Prevention of wrong site/proceedures also does save all of significant dollars.

[jlsRN]

Germans are known to be extremely meticulous people with highly regulated lives. I'm sure they had similar safety checks in place!