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American researchers have announced that they have been carrying out ID chip research in order to reduce cases of medical negligence.
Leaving surgical sponges inside patients after an operation is one of the most potentially dangerous kinds of medical negligence but is also relatively common. Worryingly, statistics show that this occurs to 1 in 10,000 patients, although not all suffer signs of personal injury.
In the US at present, surgical sponge counts are made at the beginning and the end of the medical procedure but this is not foolproof and mistake are still relatively frequent.
Dr Alex Macario, of Stanford University, commented, "A majority of retained sponges occur with normal counts, perhaps falling outside human safeguards designed to prevent these types of errors. In fact, a.review of malpractice claims related to retained foreign bodies found that sponge counts had been falsely correct in 76 percent" of surgeries other than gynaecological procedures.
In order to reduce the number of medical negligence claims, researchers have been testing the effectiveness of inserting ID chips into surgical sponges. After an operation patients would be quickly scanned with a wand so that any remaining sponges could be identified and removed.
Tests were carried out with chipped and non-chipped sponges and the wand was found to be accurate every single time.
Dr Macario went on to say, "When we started, I was concerned about the technological part of the problem but our study found the device works 100 percent of the time. The real challenge is how you incorporate a new device into the workfloor of the operating room.
"We need a system that is really fail-safe - where, regardless of how people use counting system technology, the patient doesn't leave the operating room with a retained foreign body."
