How Intelligent Swabs Saves Lives Post-surgery

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- Dr. Sreeram Srinivasan

Every year many surgery patients unnecessarily endure life-threatening complications due to RSI (Retained Surgical Items), such as a cotton swab or surgical instrument being left behind post-surgery. Infusion of intelligence into consumables and surgical instruments can help hospitals eliminate the costly errors and avoid potential loss of lives. Nothing Left Behind, the international campaign for raising awareness on RSI, has been trying to virtually eliminate RSI incidents in ORs worldwide.

These incidents, where surgical equipment and consumables left inside patients leads to fatal infections, are not as uncommon as we might think. Statistics suggest the number of cases reported is significantly less than actual occurrences. On average it is estimated that only one case of RSI is reported out of every 100 to 3,000 instances for all surgical interventions, whereas in intra-abdominal surgeries the reported cases could be even as high as one in 1000 to 1,500. In this study, Gossypibomas in India - A Systematic Literature Review, professors and Doctors of Department of General Surgery and Forensic Medicine of Indira Gandhi Medical College of Himachal Pradesh found that over 8,400 RSI cases were reported in India from January 1969 to July 2016. However, only 126 cases were documented within over 100 medical publications.