RF Assure Detection System Helps Hospitals Improve Patient Safety
By Bob Stiles
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
By waving an instrument that resembles a big soap bubble wand, Excela
Health medical staff can tell if a sponge has been mistakenly left
inside a patient during surgery. They began using the RF Assure Detection System
in its three hospitals in Westmoreland County and the Norwin Medical
Commons.
The surgical team either passes the wand over the patient or places a
mat under the patient to locate a forgotten sponge. The instruments
activate microchips -- the size of a pea -- that have been inserted into
the sponges. A beep or sustained tone sounds if the devices detect a
sponge. "We're the first health system in the area to use it," said Jesse Hixson, Excela perioperative nurse manager. The process takes about six seconds, and the sponges add a $15 cost to a surgery, Hixson said.
A left-behind sponge, which looks like gauze, can cause discomfort, infection or even death.
"We're trying to do things for patient safety," said Dr. Marc Costa,
chairman of Excela's department of surgery. "We want to make sure
leaving behind a sponge doesn't happen."
Sponges are used in surgery when a cavity is opened, such as a chest
or abdomen. Typically, surgeons will use about 15 sponges; the number
jumps to 100 during an open-heart operation, Hixson said.
A sponge is left behind once in every 1,500 cases, according to RF
Surgical Systems Inc., the Bellevue, Wash., company that makes the
detection system. Some studies put the number at one in 5,000 cases.Before an operation, a circulatory nurse and a scrub technician count
sponges and medical instruments, and the count is repeated when the
surgery is finished, Costa said.
According to RF Surgical, its system is used in hospitals in
Cincinnati, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, among others. There is no cost
for the devices but hospitals must purchase the special sponges from
the company. The detection instruments are used at different times during the operation, and records of the checks are kept on file."(The detection system) is used to supplement our count, not replace
the counting process," Hixson said. "There's no excuse for (sponge
errors) to happen."
"And we don't want it to happen," said Marci Cook, Excela vice president of perioperative service.
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