According to one prominent doctor, mistakes in the operating room happen more often than you think.
“It’s a fact of life. We’re human beings. We don’t do every operation perfectly,” stated Dr. Paul Ruggieri who recently appeared on The Bryan Crabtree Show. “I have made errors in the operating room. They’re not intentional errors, but they happen. And we’ve been reluctant to talk about it.”
That is until now. In his book Confessions of a Surgeon, Ruggieri, a practicing general surgeon, divulges the “white coat of silence” that prevents patients from ever learning what really transpires during surgery. He also discusses the good, the bad, and the ugly of his profession.
“Surgeons are working longer. They’re on call more. The fatigue is longer lasting. Fatigue can lead to errors if you allow it,” Ruggieri said on the air.
Ruggieri says many surgeons get burned out from the job, and this can sometimes lead to mistakes inside the operating room.
During a study by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard School of Public Health, nearly 40 surgeons were interviewed and provided reports on 146 operating incidents.
According to the study, the most commonly cited factors contributing to errors were inexperience/lack of competence in a surgical task (53% of incidents), communication
breakdowns among personnel (43%), and fatigue or excessive workload (33%).
The study found that 33 percent of incidents resulted in permanent disability and 13 percent in patient death.
“I’m very honest with my patients. I tell them upfront what could happen,” explained Ruggieri. “If it happens, I tell them why it happens. I’ve always tried to live my life that way and my professional life that way. “
In his book, Ruggieri also discuss how the politics of healthcare is hurting physicians in private practice.
“Because of what’s happening on a federal level, hospitals are forced to act. They’re consolidating and buying up practices and physicians today are becoming employees of this big hospital system,” he explained. “Physicians today, especially primary care, they have a hard time surviving independently. They have to join a bigger system.”
To learn more about Ruggieri’s book, click here.
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