Hello and welcome to this edition of Barts Health Knowledge and Library Services’ monthly Safer Surgery Update.
Please let us know how we can improve future updates by providing feedback, and let us know if there are any resources or publications you would like us to feature.
To find out more about the library services available to you, including our highly-regarded literature searching service and desktop document supply service, please visit our WeShare page.
Feel free to cascade this update to any colleagues who might be interested.
Robot assistants in the operating room promise safer surgery "At present, some manual operations are so difficult they can be performed by only a small number of surgeons worldwide, while others are invasive and depend on a surgeon’s specific skill.
Advanced robotics are providing tools that have the potential to enable more surgeons to carry out such operations and do so with a higher rate of success."
When do clinical trials influence surgical practice? "Non-emergency (elective) surgery in England is influenced by the findings from clinical trials. But it can take years for practice to change in response to new research – if it does at all. New research investigated this “implementation gap” and assessed why actionable findings are – or are not – put into practice."
Theatre nurses being asked about moving and handling training "A study has been launched to find out how much moving and handling training is currently being received by nurses and other staff working in theatres who are required to move patients for surgery."
Introducing a structured daily multidisciplinary board round to safely enhance surgical ward patient flow in the bed shortage era: a quality improvement research report. Hospital bed shortage is a worldwide concern. Their unavailability has caused elective surgery cancellations at our hospital peaking in spring 2016 at over 50%. This is often due to difficult patient step-down from intensive care (ICU) and high-dependency units (HDU). In our general/digestive surgery service admitting approximately 1000 patients yearly, ward rounds were run on a consultant firm basis. We report quality improvement after we introduced a structured daily multidisciplinary board round framework (SAFER Surgery R2G) adapted from the 'SAFER patient flow bundle' and the 'Red to Green days' approaches to enhance flow.
Implementation of a Device Briefing Tool reduces interruptions in surgery: A nonrandomized controlled pilot trial. "Interruptions in operative flow are known to increase team stress and errors in the operating room. Device-related interruptions are an increasing area of focus for surgical safety, but common safety processes such as the Surgical Safety Checklist do not adequately address surgical devices. We assessed the impact of the Device Briefing Tool, a communication instrument for surgical teams, on device-related interruptions in a large academic referral center in Singapore."
Preventing Wrong Tooth Extraction in Primary Care Oral Surgery: LocSSIPs - Key Aspects of Implementation for Achieving and Sustaining Compliance. "The success of Local Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures (LocSSIPs) in preventing wrong tooth extraction and other patient safety incidents is based on sustained staff compliance from the outset, ahead of implementation. This paper aims to equip primary care dental practitioners with key practical solutions to implement LocSSIPs successfully and sustainably, and the leadership knowledge to create a long-term, safe, patient-centred and just service."
