by Pat Darnell and E N Amel
[SOURCE]
The Situation
(CNN) -- A prominent Rhode Island hospital says a piece of a medical drill bit was accidentally left in a patient's head during surgery and later had to be removed.
"On August 4, a small piece of a drill bit used during a procedure broke off and was not accounted for at the end of the procedure, as is required by one of our policies," Rhode Island Hospital in Providence said this week in a statement released by hospital spokeswoman Ellen Slingsby.
Citing doctor-patient confidentiality, the hospital did not identify the doctor or the patient, or release other further details.
An investigation by the Providence Journal newspaper has cited other incidents involving the hospital; in particular, six "wrong-side" surgeries since 2001, according to the newspaper.
Neither officials of the hospital or the Department of Health would comment on that newspaper's reports but Hanney said the incident "is not a wrong-side surgery, this is a medical device left inside a patient."
MooPig's Advice:
____________Keep your head on and stay sharp!!!!
We all have this sentiment, " ... I hate when I have a knife that can't cut my steak. Or when I pull out a drill bit to drill a hole and the bit breaks! ... "
This happens so often to doctors - and there is a simple solution, but you need to get over a couple of things.
First - realize what your time is worth.
Time-factors
Here is a simple formula to determine the value of a product for use within your practice.
Average your personal gross production - since this example is a bur left in a patient's head, we will use only your personal hourly gross production and not include your scaling, planing, regeneration, tissue grafts, ....
If for example you average $10,000 of personal gross production/week - and work 30 hours per week you are working at $333 per hour or $5.55 per minute!
Time-factors is $5.55 per minute
Second - Part two of the formula is making sure the product
offers an equivalent or better benefit to you and your patient.
Lets factor rotary instruments.....
A regular carbide costs $1.50
A Speedster carbide costs $2.75
The speedster cuts approximately 4x faster than a regular carbide saving 2 minutes per procedure.
2 minutes at $5.55 = $11 per procedure of potential gained surgery time.
A sharp, new, bur is less likely to break and a sharp instrument causes less trauma to the bone. Both good factors for the patient.
Thus a resultant of $11.00 (minus) $1.25 difference in the cost of product = $9.75 to the plus per procedure in gained efficiency.
Its' all the little things that add up to higher production. A minute here, a minute there.
Doctors tend to get too caught up in the cost of the product without determining the actual benefits.
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