Hospitals find risk factors for surgery mix-ups

A hospital quality group is targeting the problem of wrong-site surgeries by bringing together eight U.S. hospitals and surgery centers to find specific causes and solutions.

The Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare says some estimates put the national number of big mix-ups during surgery at 40 per week. This includes surgeries done on the wrong patient and procedures done on the wrong body part.

The Oakbrook Terrace-based quality group's effort has identified contributing problems through data-driven problem-solving.

Poor communication and distractions in the operating room raise the risk of wrong-site surgery. Problems with scheduling and pre-operation processes also contribute.

The participating facilities include the Center for Health Ambulatory Surgery Center in Peoria.