Safety and ethics in perioperative care

Highly specialised perioperative care is provided based on a range of standards and recommendations that are based on scientific knowledge based on empirical evidence. The lay and professional public do not generally assume that educated health professionals significantly violate these procedures. If complications occur during surgery, it is assumed that this is the result of the necessary risk that the surgery entails. The following publication provides a wealth of information that refutes this assumption.

The author formulates the concept of safety in general and patient safety in surgery. She describes the situation in the Czech Republic from her own experience and compares it with perioperative care in Sweden, where she was on a traineeship in 2013.

An important part of the text is the emphasis on the ethical aspect of perioperative care. The four principles of medical ethics of Beauchamp and Childress, the codes of ethics of doctors and nurses, the AORN code of ethics, and the Council of Europe Convention on Biomedicine are mentioned. The author proves that violation of hygiene and safety regime by health professionals is also an ethical offence.

The text also includes an ethnographic study of some Czech operating theatres, which deals with the behaviour of perioperative care actors with regard to the safety of operated patients. In particular, compliance with the safety and hygiene-epidemiological regime was monitored. Using the results of observations, it compares actual behaviour during surgical procedures with mandatory documents to ensure safe perioperative care. It defines the reasons for non-compliance with the principles of hygiene and safety in operating theatres.
In the conclusion of the publication, the author proposes measures that would help to improve the current situation.