Leftover surgical materials in the body after surgery, including the surgical swab as the most commonly forgotten item, remain a considerable problem despite advances in surgical techniques. Alongside manual counting, in recent years electronic counting has also been introduced. This brings certain advantages. In this pilot study, electronic counting was experimentally introduced in the SB Novo mesto general hospital, Slovenia in cooperation with the company Smart-OR d.o.o. from Trbovlje, Slovenia. A "SC Smart cart", a special device for electronic counting, was used in 90 major procedures in various surgical specialities while traditional counting was simultaneously performed. We recorded the surgical team’s workflow, the net time needed to count swabs, and errors with and without the device. Although no errors were made with either counting method, time analysis showed faster work with the device with team members reporting reduced workloads. Counting with the device offered greater transparency in the operating room. The trial did not record any negative consequences of electronic counting. Electronic counting using the SC smart cart proved to be a safe and efficient alternative to the traditional manual counting of items with several other advantages – lower team workload, a faster workflow, greater patient safety, and more efficient organisation of the operating room.
| Published in | International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Clinical Science (Volume 8, Issue 2) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ijbecs.20220802.11 |
| Page(s) | 15-18 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Swab Counting, Operating Room Safety, Machine Counting
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APA Style
Zoran Preveden, Lovro Bobic, Klemen Bedencic. (2022). Electronic Counting of Used Swabs in the Operating Room – Trial Use of the "SC Smart Cart" Device in General Hospital Novo Mesto. International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Clinical Science, 8(2), 15-18. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijbecs.20220802.11
ACS Style
Zoran Preveden; Lovro Bobic; Klemen Bedencic. Electronic Counting of Used Swabs in the Operating Room – Trial Use of the "SC Smart Cart" Device in General Hospital Novo Mesto. Int. J. Biomed. Eng. Clin. Sci. 2022, 8(2), 15-18. doi: 10.11648/j.ijbecs.20220802.11
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ijbecs.20220802.11,
author = {Zoran Preveden and Lovro Bobic and Klemen Bedencic},
title = {Electronic Counting of Used Swabs in the Operating Room – Trial Use of the "SC Smart Cart" Device in General Hospital Novo Mesto},
journal = {International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Clinical Science},
volume = {8},
number = {2},
pages = {15-18},
doi = {10.11648/j.ijbecs.20220802.11},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijbecs.20220802.11},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijbecs.20220802.11},
abstract = {Leftover surgical materials in the body after surgery, including the surgical swab as the most commonly forgotten item, remain a considerable problem despite advances in surgical techniques. Alongside manual counting, in recent years electronic counting has also been introduced. This brings certain advantages. In this pilot study, electronic counting was experimentally introduced in the SB Novo mesto general hospital, Slovenia in cooperation with the company Smart-OR d.o.o. from Trbovlje, Slovenia. A "SC Smart cart", a special device for electronic counting, was used in 90 major procedures in various surgical specialities while traditional counting was simultaneously performed. We recorded the surgical team’s workflow, the net time needed to count swabs, and errors with and without the device. Although no errors were made with either counting method, time analysis showed faster work with the device with team members reporting reduced workloads. Counting with the device offered greater transparency in the operating room. The trial did not record any negative consequences of electronic counting. Electronic counting using the SC smart cart proved to be a safe and efficient alternative to the traditional manual counting of items with several other advantages – lower team workload, a faster workflow, greater patient safety, and more efficient organisation of the operating room.},
year = {2022}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Electronic Counting of Used Swabs in the Operating Room – Trial Use of the "SC Smart Cart" Device in General Hospital Novo Mesto AU - Zoran Preveden AU - Lovro Bobic AU - Klemen Bedencic Y1 - 2022/04/28 PY - 2022 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijbecs.20220802.11 DO - 10.11648/j.ijbecs.20220802.11 T2 - International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Clinical Science JF - International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Clinical Science JO - International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Clinical Science SP - 15 EP - 18 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2472-1301 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijbecs.20220802.11 AB - Leftover surgical materials in the body after surgery, including the surgical swab as the most commonly forgotten item, remain a considerable problem despite advances in surgical techniques. Alongside manual counting, in recent years electronic counting has also been introduced. This brings certain advantages. In this pilot study, electronic counting was experimentally introduced in the SB Novo mesto general hospital, Slovenia in cooperation with the company Smart-OR d.o.o. from Trbovlje, Slovenia. A "SC Smart cart", a special device for electronic counting, was used in 90 major procedures in various surgical specialities while traditional counting was simultaneously performed. We recorded the surgical team’s workflow, the net time needed to count swabs, and errors with and without the device. Although no errors were made with either counting method, time analysis showed faster work with the device with team members reporting reduced workloads. Counting with the device offered greater transparency in the operating room. The trial did not record any negative consequences of electronic counting. Electronic counting using the SC smart cart proved to be a safe and efficient alternative to the traditional manual counting of items with several other advantages – lower team workload, a faster workflow, greater patient safety, and more efficient organisation of the operating room. VL - 8 IS - 2 ER -
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