According to the World Journal of Surgery, it is estimated that surgical sponges are left in a patient’s body in between 1 in 2,000 and 1 in 6,000 surgeries a year in the United States. A recent article in the Telegram highlights the work being done by St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester to decrease the occurrence of these medical errors.
Out of more than 17,000 surgeries that took place last year at St. Vincent, medical staff mistakenly left four objects in patients, one of which was a sponge. These errors were reported to the State and are part of the public report of Serious Reportable Events (SREs) that was issued earlier this year and will be issued annually by the Department of Public Health. Health Care For All and the Consumer Health Quality Council successfully advocated for public reporting of all SREs and healthcare-associated infections. The purpose of the law is to both inform consumers and to encourage hospitals to take further steps toward improving the quality of care they deliver. Based on this article, the latter seems to be happening.
St. Vincent is the first Massachusetts hospital to implement the RF Surgical Detection System, a new device that can detect if a sponge is left in a patient’s body before a surgery is complete. The device is used three times during surgery to keep track of sponges. The surgical team at St. Vincent are also continuing to conduct sponge counts before, during and after surgery. We applaud St. Vincent for implementing these measures to ensure patient safety.
While leaving sponges behind is a serious patient safety issue, there are other errors that can and do occur during surgery. HCFA and the Consumer Council are advocating for legislation requiring hospitals to use “checklists of care” in order to prevent surgical and other errors. One step on the surgical checklist is counting sponges but it also has a number of other components. Please click here to learn more about checklists of care. If all hospitals in MA implement the checklists and also seek to take additional measures, such as St. Vincent is doing, to prevent errors, the Commonwealth will lead the way in patient safety.
-Kuong Ly
