Assessing the quality of consent in elective hip and knee arthroplasty: Do modern orthopaedic surgeons make the cut?

Introduction: Improper consent is a failure of clinical care and also a major cause of litigation within health care authorities. 4% of surgical negligence claims are attributed to improper consenting in the NHS, with an average settlement fee of approximately £40,000 per claim. Improving quality of consenting therefore not only improves patient care but could also reduce healthcare cost.

Improving postoperative handover: a prospective observational study.

Background: The information provided during the postoperative handover influences the delivery of care of patients in the postoperative recovery unit through their care on the ward. There is a need for a structured and systematic approach to postoperative handover. The aim of this study was to improve postoperative handover through the implementation of a new handover protocol, which involved a handover proforma and standardization of the handover process.

Failures in communication and information transfer across the surgical care pathway: interview study.

Background And Objectives: Effective communication is imperative to safe surgical practice. Previous studies have typically focused upon the operating theatre. This study aimed to explore the communication and information transfer failures across the entire surgical care pathway.

Reducing error and improving efficiency during vascular interventional radiology: implementation of a preprocedural team rehearsal.

Purpose: To determine the type and frequency of errors during vascular interventional radiology (VIR) and design and implement an intervention to reduce error and improve efficiency in this setting.

Materials And Methods: Ethical guidance was sought from the Research Services Department at Imperial College London. Informed consent was not obtained.

Evaluation of postoperative handover using a tool to assess information transfer and teamwork.

Objective: To assess the feasibility, validity, and reliability of a postoperative Handover Assessment Tool (PoHAT) and to evaluate the current practices of the postoperative handover at 2 large European hospitals.

Background: Postoperative handover is one of the most critical phases in the care of a patient undergoing surgery. However, handovers are largely informal and variable.

Changes in safety attitude and relationship to decreased postoperative morbidity and mortality following implementation of a checklist-based surgical safety intervention.

Objectives: To assess the relationship between changes in clinician attitude and changes in postoperative outcomes following a checklist-based surgical safety intervention.

Design: Pre- and post intervention survey.

Setting: Eight hospitals participating in a trial of a WHO surgical safety checklist.

Information transfer and communication in surgery: a systematic review.

Objectives: We conducted a systematic review of published literature to gain a better understanding of interprofessional information transfer and communication (ITC) in hospital setting in the field of surgical and anesthetic care.

Background: Communication breakdowns are a common cause of surgical errors and adverse events.

Data Sources: Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and hand search of articles bibliography.

An evaluation of information transfer through the continuum of surgical care: a feasibility study.

Objective: To evaluate information transfer and communication (ITC) across the surgical care pathway with the use of Information Transfer and Communication Assessment Tool for Surgery (ITCAS).

Background: Communication failures are the leading cause of surgical errors and adverse events. It is vital to assess the ITC across the entire surgical continuum of care to understand the process, to study teams, and to prioritize the phases for intervention.

A systematic quantitative assessment of risks associated with poor communication in surgical care.

Hypothesis: Health care failure mode and effect analysis identifies critical processes prone to information transfer and communication failures and suggests interventions to improve these failures.

Design: Failure mode and effect analysis.

Setting: Academic research.

Postoperative handover: problems, pitfalls, and prevention of error.

Objective: To identify the information transfer and communication problems in postoperative handover and to develop and validate a novel protocol for standardizing this communication.

Background: Effective clinical handover ensures continuity of patient care. Patient handovers within surgical units are largely informal.

Is minimally invasive surgery beneficial in the management of esophageal cancer? A meta-analysis.

Introduction: Open esophagectomy for cancer is a major oncological procedure, associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Recently, thoracoscopic procedures have offered a potentially advantageous alternative because of less operative trauma compared with thoracotomy. The aim of this study was to utilize meta-analysis to compare outcomes of open esophagectomy with those of minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) and hybrid minimally invasive esophagectomy (HMIE).

Surgery: a risky business.

The advancement of surgical technology has made surgery an increasingly suitable management option for an increasing number of medical conditions. Yet there is also a growing concern about the number of patients coming to harm as a result of surgery. Studies show that this harm can be prevented by better teamwork and communication in operating theatres.

Current status of robotic assisted pelvic surgery and future developments.

Aims: The aim of this review is to assess the role of robotics in pelvic surgery in terms of outcomes. We have also highlighted the issues related to training and future development of robotic systems.

Materials And Methods: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Cochrane Databases from 1980 to 2009 for systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials, prospective observational studies, retrospective studies and case reports assessing robotic surgery.

Urethral diverticular carcinoma: an overview of current trends in diagnosis and management.

Aims: To review the management of female urethral diverticular tumours, and rationalize treatment protocols.

Methods: A literature search through Medline, Psychoinfo, EMBASE and the Cochrane library from 1951 was performed for all reports and series of urethral diverticular tumours.

Results: A total of one male patient and 75 female patients were reported, with data on demographics, presentation, diagnosis, treatment modalities, recurrence rates and mortality.