Consultant Urological Surgeon Martin Moody FRCS, to present case for safer surgery alongside Henry Schniewind of HAT in Val d’Isère during the medical conference, Doctors Updates.
Renowned snow and avalanche safety expert Henry Schniewind has developed a strategy for staying safe in the mountains when skiing off-piste that has been adopted by FRCS Consultant Urological Surgeon Martin Moody.
They have been invited to present their ‘Strategy for Safer Surgery’ in the ski resort of Val d’Isère, France during the annual Doctors Updates conference event taking place between January 25th and 28th 2016.
‘The spirit of the presentation at Doctors Updates on Thursday 28th 2016 can be summarised as "Patient Safety is Freedom", says Schniewind, who will assist Moody in explaining why a step by step approach to staying safe in the mountains can apply to keeping patients safe whilst going through the process of surgery, right from the start to the very end of the process.
Schniewind and Moody both look at the similarities between avalanche and surgical safety issues and how Schniewind’s approach is helping to address them in Moody's surgical practice and potentially beyond. There is particular emphasis on the human factors that come into play when leading experienced skiers to take excessive risks (despite knowing better) and, again, the similarities that lead experienced surgeons in making errors.
They will present the similarities in assessing and mitigating risk in both skiing and surgery with reference to the human factors, 'decision tools', checklists and how Schniewind’s method can help bridge the ‘’safety gap’’ to reduce the number of avoidable deaths and serious complications as an '’upstream wrap-around' complementary to the ‘WHO 5 steps to safety surgery’. The idea is that the more rigorous we are on the safety side of things (prevention), the more freedom we have to push the boundaries.
About Henry Schniewind
Henry Schniewind is an acknowledged avalanche prevention expert. He was born in Boston USA and spent his early years skiing on the Eastern USA in low avalanche risk conditions. He went to the French Alps as a young man, discovered a passion for off-piste skiing and experienced his first avalanches. Henry then went on to study avalanche prevention to post graduate level. He has set up an off piste and avalanche awareness program (Henry’s Avalanche Talk at henrysavalanchetalk.com)
About Martin Moody
Martin Moody is a Consultant Urological surgeon based in Devon. He is considered safe in his surgical practise and has a high compliance with the WHO check lists. He has also skied for over thirty years. In December 2013, whilst skiing off piste with his family, he got them stuck and required a helicopter rescue. He subsequently met up with Henry, went on his course and realised the, many, similarities between avalanche and surgical safety.
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