×
ADVERTISEMENT

OCTOBER 20, 2016

Near Miss for Wrong-Sided Block Illustrates Importance of Protocols

The Case of the Sweaty Patient:

New Orleans—Despite a zero-tolerance policy at many institutions and organizations, wrong-sided blocks still occur, although many go unreported. Yet as a near miss at Duke University Medical Center helps illustrate, implementation of an anesthesiologist-led block protocol helps prevent such accidents from taking place.

“We’ve always had an institutional guideline for surgeons to mark the limb if it’s a unilateral procedure,” began Jeff C. Gadsden, MD, associate