The next person at your workplace to go under the knife… may be less likely to risk have a sponge sewn up inside the wound. Can you guess how many times doctors leave the sponge in patients? Over at the post, titled... Surgical error ... Jim Downing, discussed New Scientist report on "a deadly type of surgical error - accidentally leaving sponges inside 
patients.…”
They’ve come up with a solution…. Errors are expected to be eliminated by waving a newly invented wand over each patient's wound to check for foreign matter left in after the operation, according to researchers.
These newly created special medical sponges contain radio frequency identification or RFID chips. It’s the same technology you’d use to locate a lost cat or to track food items in a store.
It is believed that if medical personnel check patients after operations … that doctors will forget fewer sponges inside surgery patients, this study predicted.
“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 patients died as result of this error.” Check out the details at Radio wand to reduce dangerous patient stitch-ups.
It's an innovative way to help rewire doctors' minds to focus on removing sponges after operations. Think it will work?
Comment Preview