Newsletter
Surgical Fires: Electrosurgical Cases
Dec 31, 2011
Patient Safety Alert 5: Surgical Fires: Electrosurgical Cases (PDF)
The AMC PSO has identified a series of practices employed to address the factors that can contribute to surgical fires.
Safety Strategies: Prevention
- Interventions should be directed at the entire team rather than the provider wielding the electrosurgical unit (ESU).
- Each member of the team must be constantly aware of changing risks during the case (e.g., patient shifting causing tenting that creates an oxygen rich environment) and be empowered to identify and address these risks.
AMC PSO
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More AMC PSO Content
Publications such as whitepapers and guidelines derived from the AMC PSO convenings.
Patient & Visitor De-escalation
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Patient Safety Alert Issue 25: The AMC PSO convened a panel of safety leaders to review recent trends and discuss novel interventions to mitigate the risk for hospital workplace violence, especially from patients and visitors.
Failure to Rescue
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Patient Safety Alert Issue 22: The AMC PSO has recently assembled a panel of subject matter experts to review data, literature, and their own experiences with insufficient patient monitoring and failure to rescue.
Electronic Health Record Risks in the Emergency Department
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Patient Safety Alert Issue 27: The AMC PSO convened a panel of Emergency Medicine thought leaders to identify significant areas of concern and to explore potential mitigation strategies for use of electronic health record risks in the Emergency Department
Harvard Surgical Chiefs Endorse Automated Detection Technology for Retained Foreign Objects
Newsletter
Patient Safety Alert Issue 12: The AMC PSO has performed an in-depth analysis of patient safety events in the surgical setting and has identified emerging technologies and new strategies to complement existing patient safety protocols.