Of course, even the most-efficient and accountable teams can still
make mistakes. That's why Ms. Wood suggests you rely on the per-
spective of an outside observer to identify potential problems that
increase the risk of objects being left in patients.
Ms. Cerese says you need to put a system in place that makes it
easy for surgical team members to do the right thing and create an
environment where everyone in the OR is empowered to speak up if
the final count is off, or if it's not given enough attention.
"Eliminating hierarchy in the OR is really important," says Ms. Cerese,
"and that comes from the role-modeling of surgical leaders."
OSM
O C T O B E R 2 0 1 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 6 5
Preventing retained surgical items
starts with creating a standardized
counting policy that demands 100%
compliance from all stakeholders
in your facility, says Barbara
Pelletreau, RN, senior vice presi-
dent of patient safety at Dignity
Health in San Fran-cisco, Calif.
She helped implement the Sponge
Accounting System (SAS) within
her health system's 40 hospitals.
The system consists of 3 phases:
• See. Open a sponge package,
separate the sponges and spread
them out in rows of 10 to confirm
that the count in each pack is cor-
rect. (Sponges come packaged in
No Sponges Left Behind
• IN PLAIN SIGHT Loading sponge holders from
the bottom up makes it easier for members of the
surgical team to spot empty pockets.
EXACT COUNT
