[ti:Training Medical Teams to Communicate Better During Operations ] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:Health Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:02.64]Health Report. [00:04.14]No one wants a pilot [00:06.00]to make a mistake. [00:07.37]This is why flight crews [00:09.61]are trained in teamwork [00:11.48]and communication. [00:13.34]Now a study finds hospitals [00:15.71]that trained their operating [00:17.70]room teams had a lower rate [00:20.37]of surgical deaths [00:22.18]than other hospitals. [00:23.92]SURGEON: "We'll need a patch [00:24.85]in the room, [00:25.60]is there a patch available?" [00:26.59]This team has been trained [00:28.33]to communicate about the operation [00:30.34]and the patient before, [00:32.21]during and after the surgery. [00:35.07]SURGEON: "Are there any concerns [00:36.13]or questions from the team? [00:37.18]Anybody? No?" [00:39.55]The study involved more than [00:41.10]one hundred American [00:42.47]veterans hospitals. [00:43.78]Some had taken part in a program [00:46.70]of medical team training. [00:48.50]Researcher Julia Neily, [00:51.37]a Veterans Administration nurse, [00:53.48]says the training seeks [00:55.35]to empower each team member, [00:57.65]including technicians. [00:59.89]JULIA NEILY: "One of the key [01:00.57]elements here was flattening [01:02.56]the hierarchy in the operating room [01:04.65]so that everybody, the scrub tech, [01:06.45]the nurse, the surgeon, [01:07.88]the anesthesiologist, whomever it is [01:09.50]in the operating room could [01:11.30]bring up any concerns [01:12.36]they had about the patient." [01:13.91]And the more training, [01:15.35]the better the chances that [01:16.96]a patient would survive. [01:18.33]JULIA NEILY: "The group that [01:19.89]had the training initially [01:22.00]had a fifty percent greater [01:24.11]reduction in their mortality rate [01:26.04]and that was greater reduction [01:27.97]than the control group, [01:30.27]the group that didn't [01:31.27]have the training initially." [01:32.08]Study co-author James Bagian [01:34.32]is a Veterans Administration doctor. [01:36.74]JAMES BAGIAN: "Better communications [01:38.11]by briefings and debriefings [01:40.16]that are guided by [01:41.78]checklists enhance teamwork." [01:43.77]DOCTOR: "Were there any difficulties [01:45.48]or anything for anesthesia?" [01:45.73]ANESTHESIOLOGIST: "No." [01:46.66]The study is in this week's [01:48.40]Journal of the American [01:50.02]Medical Association. [01:51.20]At first, some team members [01:54.00]questioned the value [01:55.56]of the communication training. [01:57.36]But another new study shows [02:00.04]how a lack of communication [02:01.59]can lead to mistakes like [02:04.64]operating on the wrong site [02:06.20]or the wrong patient. [02:08.56]Since two thousand four, [02:10.74]hospitals and surgical offices [02:13.29]in the United States have [02:15.34]had a "universal protocol." [02:17.52]For example, they are supposed [02:19.94]to mark the surgical site [02:21.62]and perform a "time-out" [02:23.80]immediately before the procedure. [02:26.66]The study looked at records [02:28.65]of a company that provides [02:30.33]liability insurance to [02:32.45]six thousand doctors in Colorado. [02:35.43]The doctors reported twenty-five cases [02:39.60]involving the wrong patient [02:41.90]between January of two thousand two [02:44.89]and June of two thousand eight. [02:47.44]Five patients suffered serious harm. [02:50.74]Surgeons and other doctors [02:53.53]also reported one hundred seven cases [02:56.64]involving the wrong site. [02:58.82]More than one-third led [03:01.43]to serious harm. [03:02.80]One patient died. [03:04.79]The researchers blamed [03:07.34]most of the wrong-site cases [03:09.77]on errors in judgment [03:12.07]or a lack of a time-out. [03:14.56]But they say errors in communication [03:17.67]were at least one cause of [03:20.28]all the patient mix-ups [03:22.90]involving the wrong patient. [03:25.01]Doctor Philip Stahel [03:27.68]at the Denver Health Medical Center [03:29.92]led the study [03:31.04]in the Archives of Surgery. [03:33.28]And that's the VOA Special English [03:36.95]Health Report, available online [03:39.69]at 51voa.com. [03:44.23]We are also on [03:46.66]Facebook, Twitter, YouTube [03:49.77]and iTunes at VOA Learning English. [03:54.37]I'm Steve Ember.