Surgical disruption: information quality perspective

This paper emphasises that most surgical errors can be prevented or intercepted by reducing preventable disruptions inside the operating rooms. It uses information quality concepts and identifies information elements cause disruptions. The paper report initial results from 27 observed surgeries conducted in operating rooms of two Australian hospitals. This research employs an `object-centred' strategy in which the object is the surgeon conducting the surgery and records the time during which a surgeon has to wait unnecessarily is recorded. The research indicates that disruptions may force surgeons to unnecessary wait more than 19% of the surgical time. However, the paper stresses that the results from the limited number of observations may not provides comprehensive list of disruptions.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: IJIQ
• Authors: Latif Al-Hakim
• Keywords: IJIQ 2008, Operating Rooms, Paper, Preventable Disruptions