Analysis of national bariatric surgery related clinical incidents: lessons learned and a proposed safety checklist for bariatric surgery (March 2021)

Summary

This article discusses patient safety clinical incidents in relation to bariatric surgery with an aim to identify bariatric surgery-related learning points from the incidents. After analysing reports from the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) database in England and Wales, the authors found 541 bariatric surgery-related clinical incidents with 58 themes, including failure of thromboprophylaxis and medication errors. The authors hope that their research can raise awareness of these clinical incidents and propose a safety checklist and specific recommendations to help improve patient safety.