The guidelines recommended by the Panel, and endorsed by me, are considered baselines. Hospitals, clinics and individual practitioners are strongly encouraged to build upon these guidelines and make them appropriate for the setting in which they are used. A key recommendation includes the importance of developing and implementing procedures to ensure at least three independent verifications of surgical site location and correct patient identification. The Report stresses the importance of the surgeon seeing and talking to the patient in the peri-operative area prior to surgery. The Panel noted the critical importance of communication among the members of the surgical team, and strongly recommended delay of the procedure in instances where there appears to be discrepancies in information or disagreements regarding an aspect of the procedure.
Patient safety is a primary goal.
The Governor and the Commissioner of Health continue to work toward a system for reducing medical and surgical errors by establishing a safe and protected patient care environment. Key to achieving this goal is enhancing the communication among health care providers, individual practitioners and the patients they serve. Increased practitioner awareness combined with strong provider protocols will aid in increasing patient safety measures currently in place. The guidelines recommended by the panel are appropriate as a baseline for providers and practitioners. Given the variety of patient care settings available or becoming available, the guidelines are intended to be individualized to the setting and enhanced, thereby improving patient care outcomes.