Laparoscopic procedures that emergently convert to open procedures place the patient at risk for unintentional retained surgical items (RSIs).What new and evolving risk reduction strategy could prevent RSIs and frustrating,time-consuming miscount adventures at the end of these procedures?
A) Creating precounted laparotomy sets with only the few necessary instruments
B) Performing radiologic surveillance on all conversion procedures at closure
C) Counting all instruments including a laparotomy set before the laparoscopy
D) Replacing or tagging sponges and laparotomy instruments with radiofrequency identification (RFID) chips

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

New sponge-tracking technologies have emerged that enhance risk reduction strategies to prevent inadvertent retention of retained surgical items (RSIs).These include sequentially numbered sponges,bar coding,and RFID products.Researchers suggest that,given medical and liability costs of more than $200,000 per incident,sponge tracking technologies can substantially reduce the incidence of retained surgical sponges at an acceptable cost.At a minimum,all facilities should have a "count" policy that reflects AORN's Recommended Practices for Sponge,Sharp,and Instrument Counts.

Laparoscopic Procedures That Emergently Convert to Open Procedures Place the Patient