This book is aimed at hospital clinicians and is intended, as the title suggests, to help them to improve practical patient safety. In fact, most of the advice applies primarily to patient safety in the operating theatre and, as such, is of value to surgeons, anaesthetists, theatre nurses, operating department practitioners and the managers of these services.
The book is easy to read and the style is informal, which is appropriate since it is intended to provide practical advice to facilitate safer patient care. Little theoretical material is included; however, the book is well referenced and provides many good examples from both healthcare and other high-risk organisations. The section on the use of surgical safety checklists, unfortunately, does not include the recent WHO checklist that has been validated and approved for national implementation in the NHS.
The photographs are all black and white, and consequently some are not clear, which is disappointing. Boxes are used to highlight certain information but, inconsistently, sometimes for an anecdote and sometimes to bring out a key point. The diagrams are clearer and many of the tables are helpful.
There is a glossary that initially may appear redundant but includes an explanation of the importance of staff needing to share a common professional language. The appendices contain useful practical tools that could be implemented readily in any hospital in the NHS. In summary this book provides a ready practical guide for theatre staff to make patient care safer.