Many health conditions are treated using surgery. About 3 out of 10 hospital stays involve a surgery.1 Patients undergoing surgery face the risk that something may go wrong, and that they will be harmed. This Guide describes surgical safety problems in hospitals, what they are, and how often they happen. Most importantly, it tells you what you can do to avoid safety problems for you or a loved one.
Surgical safety problems are mistakes or complications that happen as a result of what hospital staff (e.g., doctors, nurses, technicians) do and do not do before, during and after surgery.
About 83 out of 1,000 surgeries (or more than 8% of surgeries) result in a medical problem or complication.2 Most people survive these problems, but they still happen. For instance:
Many safety problems don’t have to happen. Hospitals work hard to reduce safety problems as part of their work to improve quality and the health of their patients. Many have made progress, but others have not done as well. You can use {{config.website_BrowserTitle}} to learn how well local hospitals prevent patient safety problems. These quality reports will show you that some hospitals have very low rates of patient safety problems, while others have higher rates.
A lot of problems can occur when surgeries go wrong. Surgical safety problems can harm the patient’s quality of life and drive up health care costs. For example:
The {{config.website_BrowserTitle}} website has information about the quality of care in local hospitals. This website includes information on patient safety, including how often surgical safety problems occur. Nearly all of these problems are avoidable if the hospital takes the safest approach. For example, this website will show how often patients who have had surgery:
This website may also provide information on how often hospitals use approaches known to prevent surgical safety problems, including how often hospital staff:
Patients and family members can take steps to avoid surgical safety problems. The first step is to use the information on local hospitals to find the hospitals that have the lowest rates of surgical safety problems. If possible, choose to have your surgery at one of those better rated hospitals. Even if you don’t have a choice of hospital, talk with your doctor about surgical safety and ask your doctor to work with the hospital staff to prevent safety problems. Here are some steps you can take whenever you, or a loved one, has surgery.
- If the surgery is on a particular body part, like your right knee, make sure that body part is clearly marked.
- Make sure you get antibiotics shortly before surgery.
- Unless you have an ongoing infection, make sure you stop getting antibiotics a few hours after surgery. Make sure that after surgery, nurses take steps to prevent blood clots, such as giving you “compression socks” and getting you out of bed and moving as soon as possible.
- Especially for a serious surgery, have close family or friends visit every day to see how you are doing, ask the hospital staff questions, and give you comfort and support. They can help make sure the right things are being done for you, when you may not be feeling too well.
- If you think something is going wrong, and the hospital staff is not responding, ask for help from a “patient advocate.” Every hospital is required to have them.
Almost all surgical safety problems can be prevented if hospitals take actions that are proven to work. A hospital that is committed to providing high-quality care and keeping patients safe will:
Surgical safety is a serious issue, but problems can be avoided if hospital leaders, doctors, hospital staff and patients like you each do their part.