[Management of errors and complications in surgery].

The management of errors and complications makes a significant contribution to the quality assurance of a surgical department. The structured risk management is an integral component of the surgeon's duties that is reflected by the growing relevance of simulation and other training methods employed during medical specialist advanced training. Basic prerequisites for establishing an error culture that aims at improvement of patient safety and the constructive coping with complications, are the removal of taboos and the transparent processing of complicating courses of treatment. Detecting structural and systemic sources of error is preferrable to the application of approaches that focus on individual responsibility, e.g. shame and blame. There are numerous validated tools available for the prevention, recognition and successful treatment of complications. Team time out protocols for circumventing fatal errors, standardized operating procedures and morbidity and mortality conferences are the most important measures for ensuring patient safety. The standardized, consistent and interdisciplinary handling of unavoidable complications according to the failure to rescue concept is pivotal for the prevention of a fatal course.