Joint Commission releases wrong-site surgery prevention toolkit

The Joint Commission’s Center for Transforming Healthcare has released a new tool for hospitals intended to help identify risks and prevent wrong-site surgery. The Joint Commission has previously targeted wrong-site surgery through Sentinel Event Alerts.

“Wrong site surgery is a rare event for individual surgeons or health care organizations. But when it does happen it is a devastating event that is often life altering for the patient who experiences it. We know wrong site surgery should never happen, but the problem persists,” Dr. Mark R. Chassin, MD, FACP, MPP, MPH, president, The Joint Commission said in a prepared statement. “Reducing the risk of wrong site, wrong procedure and wrong patient surgery is critical to patient safety and the reputation of any health care organization that performs invasive procedures.”

For further details about the tool and how it is intended to work, visit The Joint Commission’s website.