Bar Codes Keep Surgical Objects Outside Patients

Reservoir Hill writes "Every year about 1,500 people in the US have surgical objects accidentally left inside them after surgery, according to medical studies. To prevent this potentially deadly problem, Loyola University Medical Center is utilizing a new technology that is helping its surgical teams keep track of all sponges used during a surgical procedure. Each sponge has a unique bar code affixed to it that is scanned by a high-tech device to obtain a count. Before a procedure begins, the identification number of the patient and the badge of the surgical team member maintaining the count are scanned into the counter. When a sponge is removed from a patient, it is scanned back into the system. A surgical procedure cannot end until all sponges are accounted for."

Also known as...

[The Hobo]

Reference counting. Insert obvious garbage collection joke here.

Tee hee.

hah

[flonker]

Well, I laughed at the bottom of the post where it said

(tagging beta)

Bet this guy blame this on the medical staff!

[phillips321]

http://www.forumpix.co.uk/i.php?I=1197185097 [forumpix.co.uk]

Re:High Tech Barcode Scanner?

[roguetrick]

Hey, whenever I walk into the local Weis grocery store, I feel like I'm in a sea of technology. That or rotten produce, I can't tell the difference.

Re:Just another statistic

[Dorceon]

Or do both, like in the House episode where he wrote "Not this leg" on the good leg and "Not this leg either" on the bad one.

Re:Anything.

[Anonymous Coward]

Anything that helps doctors and nurses to do their job properly is fine by me. Barcoding the items is a damn fine idea. Just don't know how it hadn't been implemented sooner.

Don't know. But the idea does sound strangely patentable in the US which could be a reason.

Death by scrubby-sponge...

[six6]

There's an AJAX joke here somewhere...

Re:Ya gotta wonder..

[QuantumG]

So you're saying they can't count to a hundred. Well then, that's different.

Re:I'm cringing...

[truesaer]

Well you've certainly picked up the legendary surgeon asshole-ego in medical school. Well done!

Re:Anything.

[deniable]

Price check in OR 3. Price check in OR 3.

Re:Also known as...

[OldManAndTheC++]

I'm coming up blank. Got any pointers?

Re:Anything.

[Walt Dismal]

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Smith. We ended your husband's operation early when we found an extra sponge. I'm afraid the system wouldn't let us continue."

"Oh my god. Do you call yourself a surgeon!?"

"Well, no, Mrs. Smith, I'm the IT trainee assigned to the OR. But - I AM a certified Microsoft System Engineer."

Re:Anything.

[Anonymous Coward]

In Soviet Russia, surgery is for implanting RFID tracking objects in you!

Re:I'm cringing...

[Anonymous Coward]

She did say something wrong. Her ID isn't in "the low 4 digits"; I checked her IP and she's a sock puppet run from a well known medical school.

I know this because my ID is in the low 2 digits.

Of course I'm posting anonymously to protect the reputation of the admin staff.

Rope 'em up

[flyingfsck]

Why don't they just add a six foot piece of surgical string to all surgical tools? A patient with long strings dangling out after an op will be fairly obvious.