NCM112

LA

Look for a journal entry, editorial, or news from the internet or a printed material regarding
issues surrounding the perioperative nursing practice and create an essay discussing your
thoughts on this. (ex: robotics in surgery, organ transplant, informed consents, patient rights
etc.) Make sure to properly cite your resources. (Maximum of 500 words). Save your output.
From what I have learned from the recent discussions on perioperative nursing, a
surgery is one of the most critical procedures done inside the hospital. It requires especially
skilled and trained team of healthcare professionals who work in a common goal in order to
perform surgical procedures that translate to best clinical outcomes and reduce the incidence
of unwanted events before, during, and after the procedure. Although quality care is a must at
all times, much greater amount of accuracy, competency, and, most especially, discipline from
the healthcare professionals involved are expected in such practices as patient safety is one
major priority in the entirety of the critical event where the individual is cut open on the OR
table.
Several human errors inside the operating room had been reported even before. The
most controversial are the ones where surgical instruments are unknowingly left inside the
patient’s body during the surgery and is only noticed until the patient comes back to hospital
reporting of pain and discomfort. This is apart from the events of wrong patients, wrong site,
and wrong procedure. I read this recent new from New Zealand in the internet titled, “Surgical
blunder: Large surgical instrument left inside cancer patient for two weeks”. From the news,
the man underwent emergency surgery at Waitemata DHB to treat a perforated colon. More
than two weeks later, he was rushed to hospital with abdominal pain and nausea. Imaging
found that an Alexis Wound Retractor (AWR), a tool used to hold open a surgical wound, had
been left in his abdomen inadvertently following the surgery. This case is just another reminder
that negligence is a big no no inside the OR. Such kind of events are more especially unpleasant
on the part of the patient as well as the family. It could greatly influence the trust that the
family has for the whole healthcare team. I should know after my father also underwent a
major surgery. I can’t tell how I would feel if I were to know that a particular surgical instrument
is left inside his chest. Therefore, now I realize more the purpose and importance of strictly
following the surgical safety checklist from the WHO and ensuring that all surgical items are
counted over and over again before finally closing the patient.
Routine safety checks during a surgery is indeed very important. No patient deserves to
endure the pain of another operation just for the sake of removing what should have never
been left inside in the first place. Thus, preoperative and postoperative checks shall be
rigorously carried out. Which reminds me again of one of the popular reminder to us, “One
mistake, a life is at stake.”. In this case, it was fortunate enough that it was detected early as
some takes years before learning about it. Although it is known that it is the scrub and
circulating nurses’ duty to ensure that all surgical instruments are accounted for at the end of
the surgery, the left surgical instrument is not a mistake of them alone but of the whole
operating staff. At the end of the day, it is the duty of the entire team to ensure the patient’s
safety.
REFERENCES:
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/surgical-blunder-large-surgical-instrument-left-inside-cancer-
patient-for-two-weeks/RJMCKXYCXH6RS3PWCCMLD2L5C4/