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To aviod surgery on wrong parts
New rules from regulatory agency
Among the rules:
The surgeon must literally sign the incision site, while the patient is awake and cooperating if possible, with a marker that won't wash off in the operating room.
Some doctors, and patients themselves, already do that voluntarily, but regulators found a confusing hodgepodge of styles. An "X" can mean "operate here" or "not here," and writing out "not this knee" backfires if the "not" gets smudged. So, don't place any mark on a non-operative site, the new rules stress. Avoid "X" in favor of doctor initials or some other mark used hospital-wide.
The entire operating team must stop all other work just before surgery begins and go through a checklist to ensure the correct patient is on the table, and that everyone - surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, technicians - agrees what procedure is being done, on what body part. Have a system to resolve any confusion.
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