The system uses radio-frequency identification to help surgical teams reduce the number of items left in patients during operations. This automated system focuses on preventing medical errors in surgical procedures that currently cost the U.S. healthcare industry more than $2 billion annually. The system is the only RFID-based system on the market that goes beyond counting sponges to include surgical instruments.
ORLocate tested 99.8 percent accurate when accounting for the location of sponges and instruments during lab testing by NAMSA in Northwood, Ohio, and labs in Germany and Israel. The system works by tagging each item used in surgery with a unique RFID identity, about the size of a small hearing aid battery. These tagged instruments are detected by antennas throughout the sterile field and a software application that continuously runs through the counting, according to the release.
Learn more about ORLocate.
