
It's estimated more than 40 million U.S. surgical nurses spend between 15 and 30 minutes manually counting surgical sponges and instruments before, during, and after each operation. Not only is this time ill-spent, but infection is risked, malpractice suits are filed and repeat surgeries to remove material left behind are costly. Now using available radio frequency identification (RFID) tags on surgical sponges, all that needs to be done is to wave a battery-operated wand over the patient in order to detect any sponges left behind. RFID tags are used to identify a large number of retail products as well as by the pharmaceutical industry to protect against counterfeit drugs and to monitor them through the supply chain. Dr. Alex Macario at Stanford University conducted a test of the RFID-tagged sponges. Results of the test were published in the journal, Archives of Surgery and indicate 100% success in finding the RFID-tagged surgical sponges. Dr. Macario says that the technological portion was a concern at first, but the device worked every time. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and ClearCount Medical Solutions, the company that makes the device that it calls the SmartSponge System. Learn more at www.$1.com.

Explore the September October 2006 Issue
Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.
Latest from Today's Medical Developments
- HERMES AWARD 2025 – Jury nominates three tech innovations
- Vision Engineering’s EVO Cam HALO
- How to Reduce First Article Inspection Creation Time by 70% to 90% with DISCUS Software
- FANUC America launches new robot tutorial website for all
- Murata Machinery USA’s MT1065EX twin-spindle, CNC turning center
- #40 - Lunch & Learn with Fagor Automation
- Kistler offers service for piezoelectric force sensors and measuring chains
- Creaform’s Pro version of Scan-to-CAD Application Module