title: Current issues in patient safety in surgery: a review.
abstract: Current surgical safety guidelines and checklists are generic and are not specifically tailored to address patient issues and risk factors in surgical subspecialties. Patient safety in surgical subspecialties should be templated on general patient safety guidelines from other areas of medicine and mental health but include and develop specific processes dedicated for the care of the surgical patients. Safety redundant systems must be in place to decrease errors in surgery. Therefore, different surgical subspecialties should develop a specific curriculum in patient safety addressing training in academic centers and application of these guidelines in all practices. Clearly, redundant safety systems must be in place to decrease errors in surgery, in analogy to safety measures in other high-risk industries. Specific surgical subspecialties are encouraged to develop a specific patient safety curriculum that address training in academic centers and applicability to daily practice, with the goal of keeping our surgical patients safe in all disciplines. The present review article is designed to outline patient safety practices that should be adapted and followed to fit particular specialties.
authors.affiliation: Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Denver Health Hospital and Authority, University of Colorado School of Medicine, 777 Bannock St., Denver, CO 80204 USA.
authors.forename: Fernando J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Denver Health Hospital and Authority, University of Colorado School of Medicine, 777 Bannock St., Denver, CO 80204 USA.
authors.forename: Rodrigo Donalisio
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.affiliation: Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Denver Health Hospital and Authority, University of Colorado School of Medicine, 777 Bannock St., Denver, CO 80204 USA.
authors.forename: Diedra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gustafson
authors.affiliation: Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Denver Health Hospital and Authority, University of Colorado School of Medicine, 777 Bannock St., Denver, CO 80204 USA.
authors.forename: Leticia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nogueira
authors.affiliation: Administration, Denver Health Hospital and Authority, Denver, CO USA.
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Harlin
authors.affiliation: Department of Business Information & Analytics, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver, Denver, CO USA.
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Paul