New Scientist reports “a deadly type of surgical error - accidentally leaving sponges inside patients - could be eliminated by waving a special type of wand over the patient’s wound, according to researchers.They have invented special medical sponges containing radio frequency identification (RFID) chips - a technology currently used to find lost pets and track food items in stores. Doctors will be less likely to accidentally leave these sponges inside surgery patients, suggests their new study.Previous studies have suggested that doctors make this mistake in about one in every 10,000 surgeries in the US. And in the year 2000 alone, experts estimated that nearly 60 US patients died as result of this error”.
Radio wand to reduce dangerous patient stitch-ups
New Scientist reports “a deadly type of surgical error - accidentally leaving sponges inside patients - could be eliminated by waving a special type of wand over the patient’s wound, according to researchers.They have invented special medical sponges containing radio frequency identification (RFID) chips - a technology currently used to find lost pets and track [...]
Comments
@ 23:54
What would the long-term effects be of leaving an RFID tag inside of somebody, I wonder? Might it be worse than just the sponge alone?
@ 15:22
It’s a bit like the poor lady who swallowed a fly, isn’t it? (Hi Molly)
@ 01:26
Jim,
While the idea is good and technically solid, getting a surgeon to actually do it once or twice will be difficult unless mandated by either the facility or their malpractice insurance.
Mary Lu