Abstract
The understanding of why air accidents occur and all the factors involved with them
has been a strong and constantly evolving driver for improving flight safety. While
they are diverse professions, there are many similarities between flying commercial
aircraft and surgery, particularly in relation to minimising risk and managing potentially
fatal or catastrophic complications. Safety developments in the operating theatre
seem to have lagged behind other High Risk Organisations (HROs). A 2018 Quality Care
Commission report stated that never events are wholly preventable and expressed the
need to learn from other industries. In this article we discuss various transferable
lessons and procedures advocated from aviation that could be applied to OMFS in an
attempt to improve team culture and safety for our patients.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 14, 2019
Accepted:
February 17,
2019
Received:
February 12,
2019
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
