Younis Abobaker
Orthopaedics and Traumatology, University Hospital Galway, Galway, IRL.
Cureus. 2024 May 21;16(5):e60782. doi: 10.7759/cureus.60782. eCollection 2024 May.
Background In medical documentation, accurate mention of laterality, whether a condition or treatment pertains to the left or the right side of the body, is critical for avoiding errors like wrong-site surgeries, which can have severe repercussions. This study aims to assess compliance regarding the mention of laterality in outpatient clinic letters at Galway University Hospital. Methods An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted at Galway University Hospital from February to August. We reviewed outpatient letters in the Orthopaedic Department. The Fisher exact and Chi-square tests were employed to observe the association between the levels of practitioners and laterality. Results A total of 278 outpatient letters from 37 practitioners in one week were analyzed. The overall laterality rate was 65.1%. It was observed that there was a male predominance in the workforce (31; 83.8%). Conclusion In conclusion, our study revealed satisfactory improvement in the prevalence of mentioning laterality among healthcare providers. It is recommended that educational sessions and re-auditing be carried out to enhance the quality of care.
背景 在医学文档中，准确提及身体部位的左右侧（无论是病情还是治疗涉及身体的左侧还是右侧）对于避免诸如手术部位错误等可能产生严重后果的错误至关重要。本研究旨在评估戈尔韦大学医院门诊信件中关于身体部位左右侧提及的合规情况。方法 2月至8月在戈尔韦大学医院进行了一项分析性横断面研究。我们查阅了骨科门诊信件。采用费舍尔精确检验和卡方检验来观察从业者级别与身体部位左右侧之间的关联。结果 一周内共分析了来自37名从业者的278封门诊信件。总体身体部位左右侧提及率为65.1%。观察到工作人员中男性占主导（31人；83.8%）。结论 总之，我们的研究表明医疗服务提供者在提及身体部位左右侧方面的普及率有了令人满意的提高。建议开展教育课程和重新审核以提高护理质量。
