Detection of a Gossypiboma
Physically counting surgical items by the operating room staff before and after procedures is the most common policy. Counting heavily depends on human performance and is subject to human error. All members of the surgical team must be accountable and diligent about the count process. The majority of count problems occur because of systems failure that need to be identified and analyzed to establish how and where the failure occurred.
While work continues on behavior change and enhanced communication techniques, new technologies are being developed that may increase the efficiency and accuracy of accounting for surgical items. Practices have been developed for sponge management systems that provide practice and technological recommendations to help hospitals achieve 0 retained items.
Newer methods to prevent the occurrence of an RSS have been instituted. Both barcode and radiofrequency identification technology have been incorporated into cotton sponge products to help improve the reliability of counting these products.
Electronic tagging of surgical sponges involves a device that gives off a signal indicating the presence of an RSS when it is swept across a surgical site. Barcodes can be applied to all sponges, and with the use of a barcode scanner, the sponges can be counted on the back table in the operating room. The use of radiofrequency identification systems is another application being evaluated in the area of sponge detection.
Emerging Technologies
Physically counting surgical items by the operating room staff before and after procedures is the most common policy. Counting heavily depends on human performance and is subject to human error. All members of the surgical team must be accountable and diligent about the count process. The majority of count problems occur because of systems failure that need to be identified and analyzed to establish how and where the failure occurred.
While work continues on behavior change and enhanced communication techniques, new technologies are being developed that may increase the efficiency and accuracy of accounting for surgical items. Practices have been developed for sponge management systems that provide practice and technological recommendations to help hospitals achieve 0 retained items.
Newer methods to prevent the occurrence of an RSS have been instituted. Both barcode and radiofrequency identification technology have been incorporated into cotton sponge products to help improve the reliability of counting these products.
Electronic tagging of surgical sponges involves a device that gives off a signal indicating the presence of an RSS when it is swept across a surgical site. Barcodes can be applied to all sponges, and with the use of a barcode scanner, the sponges can be counted on the back table in the operating room. The use of radiofrequency identification systems is another application being evaluated in the area of sponge detection.
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