According to recent data, around 40 sponges are left inside surgical patients every week in the United States. Surgical experts say these mistakes are preventable, and that retained surgical items can be prevented by counting the number of sponges in the OR prior to and after surgery.
At Atlanta Medical Center, the hospital has implemented the RF Assure System, which imbeds each sponge with a radio frequency tag. If a sponge goes missing, the OR team runs a wand over the patient and listens for the tag’s signal.
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