Studies document that at least 60,000 patients undergoing spine surgery experience some complication or harm every year.1-5 The Project for Safety in Spine Surgery (S3P) (safetyinspinesurgery.com) is determined to cut that number by raising awareness about best practices which can make spine surgery safer.
While this message was spread in previous years’ Summit for Safety in Spine Surgery, this year S3P is promoting April as Spine Surgery Safety Month. Under the leadership of Michael G. Vitale, M.D., M.P.H. and co-chairmen John Flynn, M.D., Raj Sethi M.D., Roger Hartl M.D., and Larry Lenke M.D., a live webinar will take place on April 29, 2021.
Not Another Zoom Meeting
“To ensure that we would have outstanding guidance for participants, we designed the webinars around a competition—Best New Methodologies and Techniques to Enhance Safety in Spine Surgery for 2021,” said Dr. Vitale to OTW. “We received over 100 submission and selected the top ten, five of which will be presented at each webinar as part of the expert panels. This is not just another Zoom meeting.”
The first live webinar will focus on predictive analytics, enabling technology, and innovative techniques to enhance OR safety. The second webinar will highlight checklists, guidelines, and ways of avoiding complications and improve neurological safety.
In addition to these webinars, best practices will be shared in a viral social media feed supported by a wide range of organizations. “For every day in April,” says Dr. Vitale, “a key opinion leader—who may be a surgeon, hospital administrator or an industry representative—will do a 60-second posting on the S3P website. The individual chooses a topic about which they feel passionate and then it is shared with all the societies and organizations invested in that particular ‘space.’”
Preventable Harm
Since the 1st Annual Safety in Spine Surgery Summit, attendance has been standing room only, explained Dr. Vitale. “I think we all understand that reducing patient harm is something that we have some control over. The fact is that there are still too many iatrogenic injuries…things that could be avoided if only we could be more organized and have better control over the OR environment.”
“With rates of surgical site infection coming down, we are clearly moving in the right direction, Indeed, many metrics are improving as we see heightened awareness about various issues. This year’s robust program will go a long way toward increasing awareness about spine surgery safety by sharing and disseminating these best practices.”
Participating partners thus far include the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America, the Scoliosis Research Society, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the Pediatric Spine Study Group, the Harms Study Group, the Society for Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery, the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery, Cervical Spine Research Society, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, Medtronic plc, Stryker Corporation, and Zimmer Biomet.
To register for the webinars or find out more about Safety in Spine Surgery Month this April, visit http://safetyinspinesurgery.com/1st-annual-safety-in-spine-surgery-month-online-cme/
Interested parties may also participate in the first Annual Safety in Spine Surgery month by posting their own successes and difficulties using the hashtags #safetyinspinesurgery and #s3p.
References:
- Lam SK, Pan I-W, Harris DA, Sayama CM, Luerssen TG, Jea A. Patient-, procedure-, and hospital-related risk factors of allogeneic and autologous blood transfusion in pediatric spinal fusion surgery in the United States. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2015;40(8):560-569. doi:10.1097/BRS.0000000000000816.
- Rajaee SS, Bae HW, Kanim LEA, Delamarter RB. Spinal fusion in the United States: analysis of trends from 1998 to 2008. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2012;37(1):67-76. doi:10.1097/BRS.0b013e31820cccfb.
- Reames DL, Smith JS, Fu K-MG, et al. Complications in the surgical treatment of 19,360 cases of pediatric scoliosis: a review of the Scoliosis Research Society Morbidity and Mortality database. Spine (Phila Pa 1976).2011;36(18):1484-1491. doi:10.1097/BRS.0b013e3181f3a326.
- Smith JS, Fu K-MG, Polly DW, et al. Complication rates of three common spine procedures and rates of thromboembolism following spine surgery based on 108,419 procedures: a report from the Scoliosis Research Society Morbidity and Mortality Committee. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2010;35(24):2140-2149. doi:10.1097/BRS.0b013e3181cbc8e7.
- Fu K-MG, Smith JS, Polly DW, et al. Morbidity and mortality associated with spinal surgery in children: a review of the Scoliosis Research Society morbidity and mortality database. J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2011;7(1):37-41. doi:10.3171/2010.10.PEDS10212.
