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SAFETY
Chad Flora, BSN, RN, CNOR
Prevent Retained Surgical Sponges
How we improved the quality of our closing count.
A
few years
ago, we
observed our
surgical staff's closing count procedures. We compared
them to our hospital's policy, and
reviewed the literature for best practice
recommendations.
What we found was
a wide disparity
between what we
did and what we
should have been
doing. That type of
discovery won't surprise anyone who
HIGH- AND LOW-TECH Circulator Megan Dooman, RN, uses
works in surgery.
an electronic scanner to verify the sponge count and a hanging bag to organize sponges discarded from the sterile field.
One of the big fault
lines in closing counts is that it's an orderly, repetitive process that
takes place in a rushed and often chaotic environment. Another complication: Counting practices can vary from room to room. We noticed
different personnel organizing supplies and instruments in different
ways and carrying out steps in different orders. These inconsistencies
may have caused confusion with co-workers and possibly affected the
accuracy of the counts.
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | N O V E M B E R 2013
