By William A. Hyman, ScD It should come as no surprise that the ability to do a particular surgery is likely to improve over some number of early attempts. A surgeon’s skill could be evaluated in part by measuring his or her complication rate for a given procedure and watching it decrease to a … Continued

Mercy, the seventh largest Catholic health care system, has selected patient safety and risk management software from Datix to give a comprehensive view of incidents, complaints and claims across the organization. After a thorough evaluation, Datix was selected as a result of its ability to aggregate patient safety data in real time. Datix’s powerful dashboards … Continued

Renewed focus on concurrent surgeries underscores patient safety concerns. Newspaper investigation has thrust issue into national spotlight, prompting American College of Surgeon Updates

The practice of concurrent surgeries has become a top concern for hospitals across the country following a Boston Globe investigation into the practices of a reputable Massachusetts hospital.

In October, the Globe published a lengthy exposé into the practice of “concurrent” or “double-booking” surgeries at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), ranked as the top hospital in the nation by U.S. News and World Report in 2015-2016. The Globe’s investigation revealed an ongoing battle within the health system that pitted one long-time surgeon against the hospital’s top brass in his quest to eliminate concurrent surgeries. The investigation also described specific incidents in which patients were harmed or even paralyzed during double-booked procedures.

The Globe investigation has pushed the issues of concurrent surgeries – a common practice among many academic medical systems across the country – to the surface, drawing criticisms from patient safety advocates and prompting organizations like the American College of Surgeons (ACS) to review current policies on concurrent or overlapping surgeries.

Fluoroscopy is a powerful tool that has been used over the past century in many medical disciplines. If asked, ”What is an X-ray?”, many patients would say it is like a photograph—a picture of a body taken at a moment in time. Following this analogy, if a conventional X-ray is similar to a photograph, fluoroscopy is like a video. Instead of capturing only a moment in time, fluoroscopy shows the movement of catheters, devices, and contrast within the body over an extended period of time as part of a procedure performed directly by a physician. Fluoroscopically-guided interventions (FGI) refers to specific uses of fluoroscopy where devices or instruments are inserted through the skin (i.e., percutaneously) and are guided using fluoroscopy to complete a medical procedure.