Implementation of Safe Surgery Saves Lives initiative in Ahmed ...

healthcare staff by producing the Seven Steps to Patient Safety guide (NPSA, 2004). The sevensteps described are:• Build a safety culture.• Lead and support your staff.• Integrate your risk management activity.• Promote reporting.• Involve and communicate with patients and the public.• Learn and share safety lessons.• Implement solutions to prevent harm.To help in safety building WHO published Patient safety curriculum guide for medical schools in2009. Where the safety problems classified to: (i) the wrong patient in the operating room (OR);(ii) surgery performed on the wrong side or site; (iii) wrong procedure performed; (iv) failure tocommunicate changes in the patient‟s condition; (v) disagreements about stopping procedures;and (vi) failure to report errors (WHO, 2009).Team work, communication and empowerment of staff will help junior doctors or nurses whorarely speak up when they see a senior clinician about to make an error; this is universal andapplies to all cultures to varying degrees. However, patient safety principles require thateveryone is responsible for patient safety and should speak up even when they are lower in themedical and health-care hierarchy (WHO, 2009).2.5 Nontechnical skills and human factorsThere is growing evidence that poor non-technical skills can be a major cause of error inhealthcare. Non-technical skills, or human factors, play an important role in improving teamfunction and improving these skills can drive improvements in patient safety and outcome. This19