Global
Risk Management
Retained Surgical Sponges: A Study of 319 Occurrences (US & Australia) #1107 (1.00 CH)
Victoria Steelman, PhD, RN, CNOR, FAAN
Assistant Professor
University of Iowa College of Nursing
Iowa City, Iowa
Sonya Osborne, PhD, RN
Senior Research Fellow/Senior Lecturer
Queensland University, Tech K Grove Camp
Red Hill, QLD
Unintended retention of foreign bodies (URFOs) remain the most frequently reported sentinel events. Surgical sponges account for the majority of these retained items. Reports of unintentionally retained surgical sponges (RSS), including the types of sponges, anatomic locations, accuracy of sponge counts, contributing factors, and harm; as well as the impact on the patient of delayed discovery, will be described in order to make recommendations to improve perioperative safety.