Qld releases deaths from major procedures details
For the first time in Queensland, interim results of an audit into deaths from surgery will be released.
Dr Chris Perry, immediate past President of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons State Committee, said in the first six months of the Queensland Audit of Surgical Mortality, more than 50% of Queensland’s surgeons had agreed to be audited, which was a very encouraging result,and is better than expected.
Results from audits underway in other states show that after a few years 97% of surgeons are participating and 73% had changed their practice as a result.
Preliminary results from the audit showed that deaths from surgery all involved major surgical procedures with known significant risks.
Some of the main points to come out of the data show that the average patient who died was:
- Aged about 79;
- Had incapacitating systematic disease that was a constant threat to life;
- Had three associated conditions increasing risk at the same time. For example, had cardiovascular disease, renal disease, and had a respiratory disease;
- Had emergency surgery.
“What the latest international research tells us is that when there is an adverse event, it is rarely as a result of one person, it is usually a team failure or system failure and this audit is picking that up,” Dr Perry said.
