RT Journal
A1 Wong, David A.
A1 Lewis, Brendan
A1 Herndon, James
A1 MartinJr., Claude
A1 Brooks, Robert
T1 Patient Safety in North America: Beyond “Operate Through Your Initials” and “Sign Your Site”*
JF The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
JO The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
YR 2009
FD June 1
VO 91
IS 6
SP 1534
OP 1541
DO 10.2106/JBJS.H.01462
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.H.01462
AB 
Orthopaedic surgeons in Canada and the United States have been leaders in the patient safety movement1-8. Early efforts addressed wrong-site surgery. Both the "Operate Through Your Initials" program9, introduced in 1993 by the Canadian Orthopaedic Association (COA), and the "Sign Your Site" initiative10,11, introduced in 1998 by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), predate the 2000 publication of To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System by the Institute of Medicine12. That report estimated that between 44,000 and 98,000 patient deaths from medical errors occurred in the United States each year. Following that report and the associated media attention, there has been more widespread interest in patient safety and medical errors.