Correct patient, correct site, correct procedure

Policy

• Policy and Guidelines for WA Health Services (PDF 437KB)
• Policy and Guidelines for WA Health Services OD 0004/06 (Operational Directive)

Why a correct patient, correct site, correct procedure policy?

Between October 2003 and June 2005, 11 sentinel events involving procedures on the wrong patient or wrong body part were reported to the WA Department of Health. Four sentinel events involving procedures on the wrong patient or wrong body part were reported to the WA Department of Health between 1 July 2005 and 30 June 2006.¹

Procedures performed on the wrong body part, wrong side of the body or wrong patient are preventable.

In November 2006, the Department of Health implemented the Correct Patient, Correct Site and Correct Procedure Policy and Guidelines for WA Health Services.²

What is correct patient, correct site, correct procedure?

Correct patient, correct site, correct procedure refers to members of a clinical team completing a five-step verification process before commencing treatment on a patient.

1. The health practitioner must obtain a patient’s agreement before commencing treatment. See consent to treatment for more information.
2. Members of the clinical team may check the patient’s identification on a number of occasions. The patient must state their identity details and the medical team must check the patient’s responses against the patient’s identification band, consent form and other information provided in the patient’s medical record.
3. The person performing the surgery or invasive procedure should mark the site of the procedure.
4. Once the patient is in the operating theatre, all clinical team members should independently verify the presence of the correct patient, correct type of procedure, correct site marked and presence of specialised equipment.
5. Clinicians are responsible to ensure that the correct and appropriate documents and diagnostic images are available, and that documents are properly labelled and properly presented.

Resources

• Pre-operative/treatment verification checklist (MR 30.5) (PDF 39KB)
• Presentation - Implementing the Correct Patient, Correct Site and Correct Procedure Policy and Guidelines for WA Health Services (PDF 4.14MB)
• Ensuring correct treatment and surgery: A guide for patients and their families (PDF 556KB)
• Ensuring the correct treatment and surgery on the correct patient and correct side: A guide for health care workers (PDF 632KB)

Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care publications

• If time is money (PDF 59KB)
• Ensuring Correct Patient, Correct Site, Correct Procedure poster (PDF 681KB)
• Ensuring Correct Patient, Correct Site, Correct Procedure Fact Sheet Patient Brochure - Understanding your procedures poster (PDF 699KB)
• Patient Brochure - Understanding your surgery (PDF 54KB)

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¹ Department of Health. WA Sentinel Event Report October 2003 – June 2005. Government of Western Australia

² Department of Health. Delivering Safer Health Care in Western Australia The Second WA Sentinel Even t Report 2005-2006. Government of Western Australia

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