Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Helping Hand - July 2019 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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J U L Y 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 9 1 R oughly 70% of retained surgical items are sponges, and roughly 80% of retained sponges occur with what staff believe is a correct count. No wonder OR man- agers are looking to technology to provide additional protections to the error-prone counting process that takes place in the clamor and chaos of the operating room. A fatal case in point: In September 2017, a surgical team at Redding (Calif.) Mercy Medical Center left a sponge in a patient during bypass surgery to repair dis- eased blood vessels in his abdomen and groin. After surgery, the team did a sponge count and determined that all sponges had been retrieved. Ten days later, the patient died after suffering compli- cations that included a cardiac-res- piratory arrest. A postmortem abdominal X-ray revealed that a Candice-Virgin Cabagnot, RN, BSN | Los Angeles, Calif. Technology to Prevent Retained Items Counting is prone to error. These automated adjuncts help ensure nothing is left behind. • OPTICAL ILLUSION One used sponge covered 2 slots in the pocketed sponge bag, making it appear as though there were 2 sponges when there was only 1.

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