Adverse Events and Patient Safety in the Operating Theatre: Perspectives of 549 Surgeons

Abstract

The Chief Medical Officer's recent report, 'Making surgery safer', was a response to widespread concern about patient safety in the operating theatre. Annually there are an estimated 129,416 'untoward events' in the UK. These range from 'near misses' (NM), in which a patient is 'nearly harmed', to an 'adverse event' (AE), usually defined as 'an unintended injury or complication, including death'.