Wrong-site surgery, retained surgical items, and surgical fires: a systematic review of surgical never events.
Hempel S, Maggard-Gibbons M, Nguyen DK, et al. Wrong-Site Surgery, Retained Surgical Items, and Surgical Fires : A Systematic Review of Surgical Never Events. JAMA Surg. 2015;150(8):796-805. doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2015.0301.
This systematic review examined surgical never events following the implementation of the Universal Protocol in 2004. Incidence estimates for retained surgical items and wrong-site surgery varied across studies, with median event rates approximately 1 per 10,000 and 1 per 100,000 procedures, respectively. There were many causes and contributing factors to these errors, but root cause analyses commonly called for better communication.