Non-technical error leading to patient fatalities in the Australian surgical population (29 April 2025)

Summary

Many errors in surgical patient care are caused by poor non-technical skills (NTS). This includes skills like decision-making and communication. How often these errors cause harm and death is not known. This goal of this study was to report how many surgical deaths are associated with NTS errors in Australia by assessing all surgical deaths from 2012 to 2019. Some 64% of cases had an NTS error linked to death. Decision-Making and Situational Awareness errors were the most common. The results of this study can be used to guide improvement and reduce future errors and patient death.