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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The 12th issue of "HA Risk Alert" is published today (September 25) by the Hospital Authority (HA) as a risk management and communication initiative to further strengthen the reporting and monitoring of adverse incidents in public hospitals.
In the foreword of this issue, Dr Francis Mok, Chairman of the HA Central Co-ordinating Committee in Surgery, expressed his support for the "time-out" policy promulgated recently to enhance surgical safety: "all staff have to halt momentarily in the already tight workflow and heavy workload of the operating theatre in order to ensure the correct patient is undergoing the correct procedure at the correct site." He noted that this is one of the initiatives to refine and perfect HA systems and to overcome problems due to natural human weaknesses.
The latest issue of "HA Risk Alert" featured three sentinel events of surgical or intervention procedures on the wrong patients or sites. Subsequent to in-depth root cause analyses during incident investigation, recommendations are made and shared in this publication to avoid similar events in future.
Some common pitfalls in local healthcare settings are also highlighted to enhance staff vigilance. In this issue, healthcare professionals are reminded to note the risk associated with the transportation of critically ill patients, the infusion rate of medication and the identification of patients.
The publication has been distributed to all health care professionals in public hospitals for continuous quality improvement. It can also be accessed by the public at www.ha.org.hk/riskalert.¡@
The "HA Risk Alert" is regularly published and posted on the HA website every last working Friday in the alternate (odd) month. The next issue will be published on November 27, 2009.
Ends/Friday, September 25, 2009
Issued at HKT 17:39
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