Incidence of wrong-site surgery list errors for a 2-year period in a single national health service board

Introduction: Wrong-site/side surgical "never events" continue to cause considerable harm to patients, healthcare professionals, and organizations within the United Kingdom. Incidence has remained static despite the mandatory introduction of surgical checklists. Operating theater list errors have been identified as a regular contributor to these never events. The aims of the study were to identify and to learn from the incidence of wrong-site/side list errors in a single National Health Service board. Methods: The study was conducted in a single National Health Service board serving a population of approximately 300,000. All theater teams systematically recorded errors identified at the morning theater brief or checklist pause as part of a board-wide quality improvement project. Data were reviewed for a 2-year period from May 2013 to April 2015, and all episodes of wrong-site/side list errors were identified for analysis. Results: No episodes of wrong-site/side surgery were recorded for the study period. A total of 86 wrong-site/side list errors were identified in 29,480 cases (0.29%). There was considerable variation in incidence between surgical specialties with ophthalmology recording the largest proportion of errors per number of surgical cases performed (1 in 87 cases) and gynecology recording the smallest proportion (1 in 2671 cases). The commonest errors to occur were "wrong-side" list errors (62/86, 72.1%). Discussion: This is the first study to identify incidence of wrong-site/site list errors in the United Kingdom. Reducing list errors should form part of a wider risk reduction strategy to reduce wrong-site/side never events. Human factors barrier management analysis may help identify the most effective checks and controls to reduce list errors incidence, whereas resilience engineering approaches should help develop understanding of how to best capture and neutralize errors

General Surgery Education Across Three Continents

Surgical education has seen tremendous changes in the US over the past decade. The Halstedian training model of see one, do one, teach one that governed surgical training for almost 100 years has been replaced by the achievement of the ACGME competencies, milestones, entrustable professional activities (EPAs), and acquisition of surgical skill outside the operating room on simulators. Several of these changes in American medical education have been influenced by educators and training paradigms abroad. In this paper, we review the training paradigms for surgeons in the UK, Japan, and Mexico to allow comparisons with the US training paradigm and promote the exchange of ideas

Non-technical skills for urological surgeons (NoTSUS) : development and evaluation of curriculum and assessment scale

In the last decade non-technical skills (NTS) have emerged as a vital area for improvement within surgery. This study aims to develop and evaluate a Non-technical Skills for Urological Surgeons (NoTSUS) training curriculum and assessment scale. This international, longitudinal and observational study began with a 3-round Delphi methodology to refine curriculum contents and rating scale. Sessions with up to four participants were delivered where each candidate undertook an independent scenario within the validated full immersion simulation environment. Candidates were assessed using both the NoTSS (Non-technical Skills for Surgeons) and NoTSUS rating scales by NTS-trained and non-trained experts. A post-training evaluation survey was distributed. 62 participants comprising trainees (n = 43) and specialists (n = 19) undertook the NoTSUS course. The NoTSS and NoTSUS scales correlated well, with a mean difference of 3.3 in the overall total (p = 0.10, r = 0.53). However, there was significant differences in scores between the NoTSS-trained and non-trained raters (n = 28, p = 0.03). A one-way ANOVA test revealed significant improvement throughout the four simulation scenarios in each session (p = 0.02). The NoTSUS curriculum received positive feedback from participants and demonstrated educational value and acceptability. The NoTSUS curriculum has demonstrated high educational value for NTS training aimed at urologists, with marked improvement throughout sessions. Correlation of NoTSUS and NoTSS scales proves its suitability for evaluating NTS in future training. Demonstration of inter-rater reliability indicates that the scale is reliable for use in assessment by expert faculty members. Furthermore, qualitative feedback from participants suggests gain of transferrable skills over the course. The online version of this article (10.1007/s00345-020-03406-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Multiple novel prostate cancer susceptibility signals identified by fine-mapping of known risk loci among Europeans

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous common prostate cancer (PrCa) susceptibility loci. We have fine-mapped 64 GWAS regions known at the conclusion of the iCOGS study using large-scale genotyping and imputation in 25 723 PrCa cases and 26 274 controls of European ancestry. We detected evidence for multiple independent signals at 16 regions, 12 of which contained additional newly identified significant associations. A single signal comprising a spectrum of correlated variation was observed at 39 regions; 35 of which are now described by a novel more significantly associated lead SNP, while the originally reported variant remained as the lead SNP only in 4 regions. We also confirmed two association signals in Europeans that had been previously reported only in East-Asian GWAS. Based on statistical evidence and linkage disequilibrium (LD) structure, we have curated and narrowed down the list of the most likely candidate causal variants for each region. Functional annotation using data from ENCODE filtered for PrCa cell lines and eQTL analysis demonstrated significant enrichment for overlap with bio-features within this set. By incorporating the novel risk variants identified here alongside the refined data for existing association signals, we estimate that these loci now explain ∼38.9% of the familial relative risk of PrCa, an 8.9% improvement over the previously reported GWAS tag SNPs. This suggests that a significant fraction of the heritability of PrCa may have been hidden during the discovery phase of GWAS, in particular due to the presence of multiple independent signals within the same regio

Contralateral Renal Cell Carcinoma Ureteric Metastases Can Arise on Tyrosine Kinase Adjuvant Therapy and Be Effectively Treated by Endoscopic Laser Excision and Ablation

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) uncommonly metastasizes to the ureter and rarely to the contralateral ureter. We describe the presentation of 2 successive contralateral ureteric metastases from RCC in our institution. The first represents the only reported metachronous ureteric deposit on adjuvant sorafenib after laparoscopic radical nephrectomy for RCC. The other presented with a synchronous lesion after radiological work-up. Both lesions were treated with endoscopic excision and laser ablation with preservation of the renal unit and no local recurrence. We report these cases and discuss the literature

Outcomes of ureterorenoscopic stone treatment in 301 patients with a solitary kidney

Objectives: To determine the stone-free rates and intra- and postoperative complication rates and grades of ureterorenoscopic stone treatment in patients with a solitary kidney. Methods: This study is a subanalysis of the Clinical Research Office of the Endourological Society (CROES) ureterorenoscopy (URS) study, which is a prospective international multicenter observational study. Over a 1-year period, consecutive patients treated with ureterorenoscopy for urinary stones were included. Patients entered in this analysis were those with a solitary functioning kidney. Descriptive data on patient characteristics, stone-free rates, complication rates, and grades were evaluated for three separate groups: patients treated with ureteroscopy for ureteral stones, for renal stones, and a combination of renal and ureteral stones. Results: A total of 301 patients were treated for stones in a solitary kidney; 219 were treated for ureteral stones. In this group, the stone-free rate was 88.6%, with an intraoperative complication rate of 7.4% and postoperative complication rate of 4.1%. Totally, 57 patients were treated for renal stones. In this group, the stone-free rate was 56.4%, with an intraoperative complication rate of 7.0% and postoperative complication rate of 10.5%. There were 25 patients who were treated for renal stones in combination with ureter stones. In this group, the stone-free rate was 60.0%, with an intraoperative complication rate of 12.0% and postoperative complication rate of 10.5%. Within the three groups, 72% of the postoperative complications were classified as Clavien I and II. Conclusions: Ureteroscopy is an effective and safe treatment modality for the removal of ureteral and renal stones in patients with a solitary kidney. Stone location as well as total stone burden seems to be important factors influencing the ability to render patients stone free. Moreover, single session ureteroscopic stone removal was less effective for the treatment of larger renal stones or renal stones in combination with ureteral stones.Boston Scientifi

Cognitive training for technical and non-technical skills in robotic surgery: a randomised controlled trial

Abstract Objective To investigate the effectiveness of motor imagery (MI) for technical skill and non-technical skill (NTS) training in minimally invasive surgery (MIS). Subjects and Methods A single-blind, parallel-group randomised controlled trial was conducted at the Vattikuti Institute of Robotic Surgery, King's College London. Novice surgeons were recruited by open invitation in 2015. After basic robotic skills training, participants underwent simple randomisation to either MI training or standard training. All participants completed a robotic urethrovesical anastomosis task within a simulated operating room. In addition to the technical task, participants were required to manage three scripted NTS scenarios. Assessment was performed by five blinded expert surgeons and a NTS expert using validated tools for evaluating technical skills [Global Evaluative Assessment of Robotic Skills (GEARS)] and NTS [Non-Technical Skills for Surgeons (NOTSS)]. Quality of MI was assessed using a revised Movement Imagery Questionnaire (MIQ). Results In all, 33 participants underwent MI training and 29 underwent standard training. Interrater reliability was high, Krippendorff's alpha = 0.85. After MI training, the mean (SD) GEARS score was significantly higher than after standard training, at 13.1 (3.25) vs 11.4 (2.97) (P = 0.03). There was no difference in mean NOTSS scores, at 25.8 vs 26.4 (P = 0.77). MI training was successful with significantly higher imagery scores than standard training (mean MIQ score 5.1 vs 4.5, P = 0.04). Conclusions Motor imagery is an effective training tool for improving technical skill in MIS even in novice participants. No beneficial effect for NTS was found