Enhancing
Patient Safety
PRODUCT
OVERVIEW
Benefits
Preventing retained surgical sponges is a major patient safety issue. Statements by the American College of Surgeons (ACS), the American Operating Room Nurses (AORN) and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) all seek to improve guidelines and tools to better manage surgical disposables and safeguard patients.
The RF Surgical™ Detection System was designed to address these needs and bring an added layer of patient safety to the OR.
By Understanding the Problem, We Simplified the Solution
The RF Surgical Detection System offers several benefits:
- Our focus is on sponge detection inside the patient, NOT counting sponges outside the patient—The RF Surgical Detection System targets the most immediate safety concern: “Are there any sponges still in the patient?”
- Established AORN surgical count protocols are not replaced, but reinforced—The counting of sponges, sharps and instruments throughout the surgical case is still part of recommended procedures. However, a reconciled sponge count is validated with a clear patient scan using the RF Surgical Detection System. This is important, since the majority of retained objects have been sponges that were believed to have been correctly accounted for in standard OR counting procedures, including those instances where x-ray imaging was used to rule out retention.
- RFDetect™ disposables require no additional handling prior to use—Systems relying on bar code or RFID technology impose added time and procedural requirements on the OR staff. Sponges must be correctly scanned in and scanned out to be tracked and accounted for by these systems. RFDetect gauze, sponges and towels are ready for use out of their packaging.
- Our hybrid RF platform and passive micro tag give us cost and application advantages—The tag used in RFDetect disposables is smaller and less expensive than RFID-based chips. Even in multiple sponge cases, our system provides cost effective security. Measuring only 4mm x 12mm, our micro tag fits unobtrusively in gauze and sponges, including those used in minimally invasive and OB procedures. Additionally, our non-ID based tag carries none of the privacy concerns or legal issues involved in RFID use in patients.
- Our system makes fast work of locating missing sponges which reduces patient risk and staff stress while saving OR time and costs—Sponges can’t hide from the RF Surgical Detection System. A patient can be cleared of retained sponges with confidence very quickly. If there is a miscount, the OR can be scanned thoroughly without having staff dig through garbage to locate a misplaced tagged disposable. The added wait and expense of ordering an x-ray can also be avoided. While targeting patient safety is our primary objective, our system also brings peace of mind to the OR staff and mitigates the risk of expensive lawsuits and damaging press to the medical institution. Using the RF Surgical Detection System is simply a smarter way to operate an OR.