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SAFE SURGERY - Fifty facts you need to know if you are having an operation 9/22/2014 5:04:31 AM
Healthcare in general and hospital safety efforts in particular are in a state of confusion. Despite the noisy marketing efforts of thousands of US hospitals, the safety of hospitalized patients hasn't really improved in the last two decades. Four hundred thousand Americans die each year in our hospitals of errors and unnecessary complications. Most of these mistakes involve surgical patients. This book provides you with a guide to the essential information you need if you're about to have a surgical operation. Yes, I've put the hernia book aside to complete this, my lifelong patient advocacy project. I've retooled it in the form of 50 questions that you should be asking yourself if a surgical procedure is in your immediate future. The book should be out in a month or so. Here are some of the essential questions to consider:
>How was my diagnosis made, is it serious, and do I really need an operation to fix the problem?
>What is my PCT - personal care team? (Who's on it? When do I assemble them? Where do they go? What do they do?)
>Should I write my own medical history? How?
How do I get real (negotiated) informed consent for my operation?
>Do I need a second opinion?
>What are the twelve irrevocable hospital truths?
>How can I prepare myself for my operation?
>Can my surgeon predict if my operation will be successful?
What is my personal 'circle of risk'?
How can I be sure my surgeon is well-qualified?
What is a SPEDI recovery?
>Is it safe to have my surgery in a teaching hospital?
What does 'failure to rescue' mean?
How do I prevent my surgeon from operating on the wrong side (does this still happen?)
>Should I have a laparoscopic (minimally invasive) operation or traditional open (incision) surgery?
Should I ask to have my operation done using a robot? (maybe not!)
>Why might my surgeon send me to the intensive care unit?
What are danger signals I should look for after surgery when I'm back home?
Can I rely on the Internet for medical information?
>What is the 'sick surgeon syndrome'?
Is there ever a time to say "No!" to a proposed operation?
My research on these topics as well as my forty years of clinical experience will provide you with answers to these important questions, as well as direct you to reliable websites for more information. I'm polishing the final draft!
