Since 2006, the healthcare inspection (IGZ) monitors the quality of the surgical process in hospitals by visiting 20-25 hospitals annually. Various scientific publications show that half of the cases involving avoidable patient harm takes place in the surgical process. For this reason the IGZ decided to monitor systematically in all hospitals to gain in terms of patient safety. Monitoring the surgical process has been named as a permanent area of interest in the 'Long-Term Plan 2012-2015'.

In 2013 (the 7th research of the inspection into the surgical process) the IGZ visited 19 hospitals that reported a case whereby surgery material unintentional remained in the surgical process or had been exchanged. As a result of these visits the report 'Safety awareness in the surgical process; even after a disaster in too much hospitals not up to the mark' came out. This report shows that only 52 percent of the hospitals performed a double check  when preparing and administering parenteral medication.

During the inspection, 114 patient records were checked and appr.  100 operations were attended. Six of the audited hospitals were ordered to implement improvements immediately, including the strengthening of security procedures when performing the double-check. For these improvements they had 4 weeks.

In addition to above conclusions, the research also revealed that the structure and implementation of the operative process in hospitals have been improved in many areas the recent years, which is partly due the use of guidelines and checklists.

The entire report can be read here (Dutch):  “Veiligheidsbewustzijn in het operatief proces; ook na een calamiteit in teveel ziekenhuizen nog niet voldoende”


Are you looking for a method to perform the double-check in an easy but effective way? Please contact us to see what the possibilities are. Of course you can also order the Q-Check directly!

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