Ensuring Correct Patient, Correct Site, Correct Procedure Protocol for Surgery: Review of implementation and proposals for action

Print page  Decrease text size  Increase text size

The main aim of this initiative was to gain an understanding of the way in which the Ensuring Correct Patient, Correct Site, Correct Procedure Protocol Protocol has been implemented in Australia. The review was focussed on use of the Protocol in a surgical environment.

The review of the implementation of the Protocol involved the following activities:

  • examining the jurisdictional and private hospital policy framework in place regarding the Protocol
  • obtaining information about the level of compliance with the Protocol
  • interviewing individuals who have been involved in the implementation or use of the Protocol about their experiences.
The discussion paper presents the results of the review, as well as actions that have been proposed to reduce observed variation in the use of the Protocol. These actions have been informed by preliminary discussions with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.


Ensuring Correct Patient, Correct Site, Correct Procedure Protocol for Surgery: Review of implementation and proposals for action (PDF 222 KB)


Help with accessing large documents

When accessing large documents (over 500 KB in size), it is recommended that the following procedure be used:

  1. Click the link with the RIGHT mouse button
  2. Choose "Save Target As.../Save Link As..." depending on your browser
  3. Select an appropriate folder on a local drive to place the downloaded file

Attempting to open large documents within the browser window (by left-clicking) may inhibit your ability to continue browsing while the document is opening and/or lead to system problems.

Help with accessing PDF documents

Get Acrobat ReaderTo view PDF (Portable Document Format) documents, you will need to have the Adobe Acrobat reader installed on your computer. The Adobe Acrobat Reader is available free of charge from Adobe's website.