RI hospitals adopt uniform protocols

PROVIDENCE, R.I (WPRI) - Doctors in Rhode Island will start following the same procedures before surgeries, no matter what hospital they are working in.

The Hospital Association of Rhode Island says the 14 hospitals in the state voluntarily agreed to adopt the same routine for surgical procedures.  Those procedures were announced Tuesday, just one day after Miriam Hospital announced a surgeon had nearly operated on the wrong eye of a patient. The medical team caught the mistake, but not before anesthesia had already been given. 

The new protocol, which goes into effect July 1, includes having two licensed providers mark the operation site, requiring surgeons to mark the site with their initials and using a checklist before surgeries.

The goal is to help doctors who work at multiple hospitals and reduce the potential for surgical errors.

"Reducing wrong-site and wrong-side surgeries is a challenge for healthcare facilities across the country. Hospitals will need to work together to continuously evaluate compliance with this protocol and make revisions as they encounter unique or unexpected situations not addressed by the protocol, " said Director of Health David R. Gifford, MD, MPH.