SurgiCount Medical: Safety-Sponge: Overview

The Safety-Sponge™ System is a complete and comprehensive sponge counting and documentation system designed to dramatically increase the accuracy of sponge counts performed in hospitals. As studies show, 88% of cases with retained foreign bodies involved a final count that was erroneously thought to be correct. The root cause of retained cases is not an inability to find a lost sponge, but not knowing that a sponge needed to be searched for.

To address this, SurgiCount labels each and every sponge with a unique serial number embedded in a data matrix bar code. A SurgiCounter is then used to scan and record the bar codes during the initial and final counts. Because each sponge is identified with a unique code, the SurgiCounter will not allow the same sponge to be counted more than once, leaving the user with a far more accurate and valid sponge count.

The SurgiCount Safety-Sponge™ System is comprised of three parts:

A comprehensive line of uniquely identifiable surgical sponges and towels (Safety-Sponges)
Touch-screen scanning devices (SurgiCounters)
A networked database application (Citadel) that allows for the complete review, management and analysis of the count reports generated