The rate of instrument breakage during orthopaedic procedures.
The current study investigates instrument breakages during both emergency and elective orthopaedic surgery. Over a 2 year period a total of 7,775 procedures were performed. We found that 14 instruments were broken during 12 operative cases. Drill bits accounted for the largest proportion of breakages (11/14), and a specialist registrar was the lead surgeon in the majority (8/12) of cases. Only one case had a consultant as the lead surgeon. In seven cases the broken bit of the surgical instrument was left in the patient. Documentation of this peri-operative complication was deficient, and the patient was often not informed.
Price
M V
MV
Department of Orthopaedics and Trauma, Princess Royal Hospital, Lewes Road, Haywards Heath, UK, RH16 4EX.
Molloy
S
S
Solan
M C
MC
Sutton
A
A
Ricketts
D M
DM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004868:Equipment Failure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005547:Foreign Bodies / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007432:Intraoperative Period; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019637:Orthopedic Procedures; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013525:Surgical Instruments