Introduction: Human errors
result in numerous accidents in healthcare professions every year and lead to
the death of many patients. Considering the high rate of eye cataract surgeries
performed in Iran and the sensitive nature of the surgery, the present study
was conducted to identify and assess possible human errors in the performance
of these surgeries.
Materials and
Methods: The present qualitative, cross-sectional study was conducted to identify
and assess human errors in the process of eye cataract surgery using the SHERPA
technique. At first, using the hierarchical task analysis method,
the surgery process was divided into tasks and sub-tasks. In the next step,
through the same technique, possible human errors were detected and
risk-assessed. Appropriate prevention solutions were then proposed for reducing
the risk of errors.
Results: A total of 53
possible errors were detected for the 41 tasks in the surgery process. The
highest error percentages pertained to performance and the lowest pertained to
retrieval. Moreover, the risk of 22.64% of the errors detected was deemed
unacceptable.
Conclusions: Given the
severity of the outcomes of human errors in cataract surgery, reducing the rate
of the detected errors is crucial. According to the type and frequency of the
detected errors, the findings of the present study emphasize the importance of
designing and implementing behavior-based safety training programs for
ophthalmologists.