Wrong-site surgery is considered a never event and can lead to serious patient harm. This analysis of closed medical malpractice claims on wrong-site surgery between 2013 and 2020 concluded that the risk of wrong-site surgery increases with spinal surgeries (e.g., spinal fusion, excision of intervertebral discs). The primary contributing factors to wrong-site surgery was failure to follow policy or protocols (such as failure to follow the Universal Protocol) and failure to review medical records.

Wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient errors (WSPEs) are serious adverse events. This retrospective analysis of medical liability claims data examined the incidence of WSPEs in France between 2007 and 2017. During this ten-year period, WSPEs accounted for 0.4% of all claims. Procedures on the wrong organ were most common (44%), followed by wrong side (39%), wrong person (13%) and wrong procedure (4%). The researchers found that the average number of WSPEs decreased after implementation of a surgical checklist.

Patients and caregivers are important partners in promoting safe care. Findings from this cross-sectional study reinforce the importance of patients’ perceived roles in ensuring safe surgery and highlight the importance of patient engagement in mitigating surgical site errors.

The perioperative setting is a high-risk environment. This continuing education model discusses safety threats and evidence-based best practices to deliver nursing care in perioperative settings and promote a culture of safety.

Wrong-site surgeries can lead to serious patient harm and are considered never events by the National Quality Forum. Based on events reported to the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System between 2015 and 2019, the authors identified an average of 1.42 wrong-site surgery events per week and found that three-quarters of events resulted in temporary or permanent patient harm. The authors present several evidence-based strategies to reduce the likelihood of wrong-site surgery, including preoperative and intraoperative verification, site marking, and timeouts.  

The Joint Commission and National Quality Forum both consider wrong-site, wrong-procedure, and wrong-patient surgeries to be never events. Despite improvement approaches ranging from the Universal Protocol to nonpayment for the procedures themselves and any consequent care, these serious surgical errors continue to occur. This study measured the incidence of incorrect surgeries in Veterans Health Administration medical centers from 2010 to 2017. Surgical patient safety events resulting in harm were rare and declined by more than two-thirds from 2000 to 2017. Dentistry, ophthalmology, and neurosurgery had the highest incidence of in–operating room adverse events. Root cause analysis revealed that 29% of events could have been prevented with a correctly performed time-out. A WebM&M commentary examined an incident involving a wrong-side surgery.

Wrong-site procedures are considered never events, yet they continue to occur. This review describes the incidence, impacts, and contributing factors of wrong-site nerve blocks. The authors recommend verifying the procedure and patient with multiple sources of information, using visible site markings, and employing time outs immediately prior to anesthetic use. A WebM&M commentary discussed an incident involving a wrong-site nerve block.

Wrong-patient and wrong-site surgeries are considered never events. This commentary describes a tool developed to decrease confusion in plastic surgery. The authors envision the tool to enhance team communication and preparation, which should reduce risk of wrong-site surgery.

This commentary describes a case of wrong-site surgery, an erroneous breast biopsy, and the resulting disclosure of the error and investigation. Root cause analysis uncovered multiple process vulnerabilities. The authors suggest that errors provide opportunities to design system solutions to prevent errors.

The Universal Protocol requires hospitals to adopt time outs as a strategy to prevent wrong-site surgeries. This commentary describes how one organization combined elements of time outs and the surgical safety checklist to augment communication and teamwork in surgical settings. Implementation of the enhanced time out involved targeted education and clarity around surgical roles and responsibilities.

High reliability organizations have developed methods for achieving safety despite hazardous conditions. This review explores the importance of establishing a culture of safety and leadership commitment to achieve high reliability in health care. The authors discuss the benefits of applying high reliability principles in orthopedic practice to standardize approaches and prevent wrong-site surgery.

Checklists are a popular strategy to improve teamwork and prevent errors. Reviewing the evidence on the use of checklists in surgery, this commentary highlights how the tool and associated time out have reduced some adverse events and helped to manage hierarchy in the operating room.

Despite efforts to prevent wrong-site surgeries, they continue to occur. This commentary discusses a near miss resulting from human factors and inadequate team communication to underscore the importance of reporting and analyzing incidents to enhance individual practice and teamwork.

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.

Despite large-scale efforts to prevent wrong-site surgeries, they continue to occur. This concept analysis found limited evidence regarding the role of nurses in wrong-site surgery and recommends that future research focus on theoretical frameworks around how preoperative nurses can help avert these never events.

Wrong-surgery errors continue to occur despite their status as never events. This study found that wrong-site block occurred at a rate of about 1 per 10,000 nerve blocks, and these persisted even after implementation of time out procedures. The authors highlight the need to develop interventions to prevent these events.