Madison Patient Safety Collaborative

Making Madison the safest place to receive healthcare

Surgical Site Marking and Patient Identification

The safety culture of the operating room is changing. Operating teams now work under the Universal Protocol For Preventing Wrong Site, Wrong Procedure, Wrong Person Surgery developed by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).

This protocol includes:

Pre-operative verification process
Marking the operative site
"Time out" immediately before starting the procedure

Project goals

The goal of this project is to convene members of inpatient and ambulatory surgery teams to share information regarding policies (new and/or enhancements), implementation strategies and barriers.

The team meets on an informal basis and has met twice.