Various surgical specialties have implemented surgical checklists to improve patient safety outcomes. In this survey of 543 otolaryngologists, surgical safety checklists were widely used, but intraoperative adverse events continue to occur. The most common adverse events reported were medication errors, wrong site/patient/procedure events, and retained surgical items.

This pre–post study found that implementation of relative value unit–based payment in a head and neck surgery practice resulted in a higher volume of procedures. The incidence of adverse outcomes, including postoperative hospitalizations, infections, unplanned return surgeries, and emergency department visits, did not change. The authors conclude that the change in payment structure did not impact surgical safety.

This prospective cohort study examined the association between self-rated daytime sleepiness among trainee surgeons and attending surgeon–rated intraoperative technical skill. Higher ratings of sleepiness were associated with worse technical skills, echoing concerns about procedures performed by sleep-deprived surgeons.

High-reliability organizations have developed methods for achieving safety despite hazardous conditions. This review summarizes the systems science, organizational structure, and interpersonal working methods that enable high-risk industries like health care to practice reliably and learn from mistakes.

Simulations in health care can help uncover technical weaknesses, teamwork gaps, and system problems. This review explores simulation use in otolaryngology and outlines key components of in-situ simulation and how to perform one.

This review discusses general patient safety concerns and those specific to otolaryngology, including problems related to use of lasers, diagnostic discrepancies associated with thyroid conditions, risks linked to use of adrenaline in the surgical field, and incidents involving wrong-site surgery.

This direct observation study revealed that surgeons performed with less dexterity and made more errors when distractions were present in the operating room compared to when no distraction occurred, and this effect was more pronounced in those with less experience. Consistent with prior work on interruptions and distractions, this finding underscores the need to augment health care work environments to improve safety.

This commentary explores the unique challenges involved in integrating core principles of safety and quality improvement into otolaryngology–head and neck surgery education and describes strategies to address them. The authors draw from the experience of other specialty-focused medical education efforts to suggest topics to cover, effective ways to deliver content, and morbidity and mortality conferences as elements of successful programs.

This study examined the characteristics of medical negligence claims in otolaryngology (ear, nose, and throat) cases in the United Kingdom. Researchers reviewed 65 closed cases that resulted in payouts and found that surgical complications were implicated in 50 of the cases. The most common complaint was failure to recognize or appropriately manage complications.

This review discusses wrong site surgery in otolaryngology, along with preventive strategies such as the Universal Protocol, the WHO checklist, and radiofrequency identification tags.

This study examined the use of, and attitudes towards, the World Health Organization's Surgical Safety Checklist one year after implementation at an otorhinolaryngology department in Helsinki.

An audit and feedback intervention substantially improved the quality of handoffs in an otolaryngology inpatient unit.

This study found that operative complications were the most common source of medical negligence claims in otology. While claims were associated with a high rate of success in settlement, a significant proportion of the issues were nonsurgical and offer an opportunity for prevention strategies.

This study surveyed clinicians and discovered significant variation in their time-out and site-marking procedures in daily practice. The authors highlight the dynamic tension between national regulations and local interpretations of such policies.

A novel trigger tool intended to detect errors in pediatric otolaryngology patients unfortunately missed many cases of preventable adverse events.