Patient Safety Issue in Perioperative Nursing

CASE STUDY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Identified patient safety issue and ways in which it occurred.....................................................1
How common is your patient safety issue...................................................................................1
Impacts on patients when this type of incident occurs................................................................2
What strategies are in place to reduce/prevent this patient safety incident occurring.................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Perioperative nursing is a kind of nursing in which nurses work with patients who are
having operative or any other kind of invasive procedures. Perioperative nurses play a vital role
in surgeries and work closely with surgeons (Baradaran Bagheri & et. al. 2019). They help in
planning, implementing treatment of surgical patients so that proper care of patients can be
provided before, during and after surgery. This assignment will lay emphasis upon case study of
Ms Sally Winston extensive spinal surgery in prone position that lasted for seven hours. When
she was shifted to ward it was observed that Sally has red marks on her cheeks and forehead and
she was feeling like her skin was burning. In this assignment patient safety issue is identified,
ways in which it could occur, level till which it is occur to occur in patients, impacts on patients
when this type of incident occurs, and strategies are in place to reduce this issue to occur.
MAIN BODY
Identified patient safety issue and ways in which it occurred
Safety issue identified in this case is burning red marks on forehead and cheeks when
shifted to ward after undergoing extensive spinal surgery in prone position. Prone position is one
of the most important position which is required when back or spine surgeries are undergone.
But when a patient undergoes a surgery for longer duration in prone position there are chances
that they suffer from skin related issues or complications. It has been observed that a patient
undergoing surgery in this position is at high risk of suffering from any kind of skin related issue
or complication from forehead to toe (Sultan, Alahmadi & Mohabbat Sr, 2020). This is mostly
because patient is under the effect of anaesthesia and lie in same position on operation table due
to which these red marks or burning feeling can be developed because these areas are not under
surveillance of surgeon. This mostly occurs when a skin in contact with any kind of thing to
which patient is allergic to or is in contact with operation table or any instrument for longer
duration. Other than this mostly when patient is in prone position for longer duration during
surgery there are chances that patient can suffer from pressure injury on forehead, cheeks etc. It
is another main safety issue that can occur due to longer duration of a surgery in prone position
(Yoshimura & et. al. 2020).
How common is your patient safety issue
Getting red marks on forehead or cheeks or on any other body part is not so common but
can occur to patients after surgery due to various reasons. Some of the most common reasons
1