Costly to Avoid and Overcome…Until Now
Surgical disposables such as sponges and gauze are sometimes unintentionally left behind in patients following surgery. They are an acute medical risk to the patient and result in costly re-operative expenses, legal battles and a compromised hospital reputation.
The current method of manually counting surgical disposables before and after a surgery is subject to human error, especially in the stress filled setting of an OR. When the counts do not match, which may occur in up to 10% of surgical cases, the operating room personnel must sort through mounds of used and unused sponges then wait for an x-ray prior to completing the surgical procedure and closing the patient. This process has been shown to be expensive, time consuming and sometimes unreliable.
Even a correct surgical count does not guarantee that nothing has been left behind. Quite the contrary. Hospital findings show that most retained disposables actually occur when counts are thought to be correct and proper procedures are followed.
RF Surgical’s proprietary RF Surgical™ Detection System was designed to provide a simple, accurate and low cost solution to detecting and preventing retained surgical sponges while enhancing patient safety and peace of mind.