A Socio-Technical Exploration for Reducing & Mitigating the Risk of Retained Foreign Objects

Siobhán Corrigan, Alison Kay, Katie O’Byrne, Dubhfeasa Slattery, Sharon Sheehan, Nick McDonald, David Smyth, Ken Mealy and Sam Cromie
Additional contact information
Siobhán Corrigan: School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
Alison Kay: School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
Katie O’Byrne: School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
Dubhfeasa Slattery: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Royal College of Surgeons (RSCI) in Ireland, Dublin 2, Ireland
Sharon Sheehan: Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital, Dublin 8, Ireland
Nick McDonald: School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
David Smyth: Department of Surgery & Clinical Director Perioperative Services, University Hospital Waterford, X91 ER8E Waterford, Ireland
Ken Mealy: Department of Surgery, Royal College of Surgeons (RSCI) in Ireland, Dublin 2, Ireland
Sam Cromie: School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: A Retained Foreign Object (RFO) is a fairly infrequent but serious adverse event. An accurate rate of RFOs is difficult to establish due to underreporting but it has been estimated that incidences range between 1/1000 and 1/19,000 procedures. The cost of a RFO incident may be substantial and three-fold: (i) the cost to the patient of physical and/or psychological harm; (ii) the reputational cost to an institution and/or healthcare provider; and (iii) the financial cost to the taxpayer in the event of a legal claim. This Health Research Board-funded project aims to analyse and understand the problem of RFOs in surgical and maternity settings in Ireland and develop hospital-specific foreign object management processes and implementation roadmaps. This project will deploy an integrated evidence-based assessment methodology for social-technical modelling (Supply, Context, Organising, Process & Effects/ SCOPE Analysis Cube) and bow tie methodologies that focuses on managing the risks in effectively implementing and sustaining change. It comprises a multi-phase research approach that involves active and ongoing collaboration with clinical and other healthcare staff through each phase of the research. The specific objective of this paper is to present the methodological approach and outline the potential to produce generalisable results which could be applied to other health-related issues.

Keywords: retained foreign objects; patient safety; human factors; sociotechnical systems; risk management; multi-disciplinary approach; process modelling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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