Patient Safety in Spine Surgery: Regarding the Wrong-Site Surgery

Patient safety regarding wrong site surgery has been one of the priority issues in surgical fields including that of spine care. Since the wrong-side surgery in the DM foot patient was reported on a public mass media in 1996, the wrong-site surgery issue has attracted wide public interest as regarding patient safety. Despite the many wrong-site surgery prevention campaigns in spine care such as the operate through your initial program by the Canadian Orthopaedic Association, the sign your site program by the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeon, the sign, mark and X-ray program by the North American Spine Society, and the Universal Protocol program by the Joint Commission, the incidence of wrong-site surgery has not decreased. To prevent wrong-site surgery in spine surgeries, the spine surgeons must put patient safety first, complying with the hospital policies regarding patient safety. In the operating rooms, the surgeons need to do their best to level the hierarchy, enabling all to speak up if any patient safety concerns are noted. Changing the operating room culture is the essential part of the patient safety concerning spine surgery.

The significance of Joint Commission International accreditation

Recently many hospitals in Korea have become interested in JCI (Joint Commission International) accreditation. As the medical market opens to medical tourism and to attract foreign patients, JCI accreditation has become the prime object. It is compatible with government policy for upgrading the medical industry and necessary to strengthen compatibility with foreign hospitals. JCI accreditation means that the medical services provided by a hospital are equivalent in quality and patient safety to medical services internationally. It also means that the hospital is reliable in treating patients according to international policies and regulations. The most important meaning of JCI accreditation is that the staff in the hospital have promised to provide safe patient care according to the hospital policies and bylaws made and approved by the staff members. During the process for JCI accreditation, the hospital staff's concept regarding patient safety has been changed and many of them are now voluntarily involved in quality improvement and patient safety activities in the hospital.