Consumers should aware that there is often a difficult leap between what works in a laboratory and what works in the field. They should also be aware that what may be acceptable for one industry may not be acceptable for another. SurgiCount Medical recommends to hospitals evaluating various solutions to demand from sponge companies not just clinically valid research on the underlying technology (bar code, RF, RFID) of a product, but relevant, clinically valid research on the particular implementation of that technology (Safety-Sponge™, RFDetect™, SmartSponge™ systems) as well.
Clinical Study at Brigham & Women's Hospital
A leading patient safety research team out of Brigham & Women’s Hospital in conjunction with Harvard Medical School, performed an independent, randomized, 300 patient, controlled study to determine the performance of the Safety-Sponge™ System. Led by world renowned patient safety researchers Drs. Atul Gawande and Caprice Christian, the team published their findings in the April 2008 issue of Annals of Surgery.
Results:
“The bar-code system detected significantly more counting discrepancies than the traditional protocol (32 vs.13 discrepancies, P = 0.007). These discrepancies involved both misplaced sponges (21 vs. 12 sponges, P = 0.17) and miscounted sponges (11 vs. 1 sponge, P = 0.007).”
Conclusions:
“Use of automated counting using bar-coded surgical sponges improved detection of miscounted and misplaced sponges and was well tolerated by surgical staff members…and should be considered for adoption”
