Omigod! It’s happened again…

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Officials at a Providence hospital group said an oral surgeon began operating on the wrong part of a patient’s mouth this week before discovering the error. It’s the fifth wrong-site surgery in the last two years in the Lifespan hospital chain.

Myself, I have to be careful not to mix up left and right. I manage by checking twice and documenting which leg I put the bandage on so when I write up my notes I don’t have to try to remember. Also, I look at the order before I do anything.

Maybe a humble recognition that it’s easy to make a mistake when time is short and pressure is high and distractions are many will lead to a low tech approach– such as a Sharpie to write on the patient’s skin, ‘cut here’.