Slashdot Mirror
Bar Codes Keep Surgical Objects Outside Patients
Reservoir Hill writes "Every year about 1,500 people in the US have surgical objects accidentally left inside them after surgery, according to medical studies. To prevent this potentially deadly problem, Loyola University Medical Center is utilizing a new technology that is helping its surgical teams keep track of all sponges used during a surgical procedure. Each sponge has a unique bar code affixed to it that is scanned by a high-tech device to obtain a count. Before a procedure begins, the identification number of the patient and the badge of the surgical team member maintaining the count are scanned into the counter. When a sponge is removed from a patient, it is scanned back into the system. A surgical procedure cannot end until all sponges are accounted for."
Reference counting. Insert obvious garbage collection joke here.
Tee hee.
There is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men. -- Boondock Saints
Well, I laughed at the bottom of the post where it said
(tagging beta)
http://www.forumpix.co.uk/i.php?I=1197185097
Hey, whenever I walk into the local Weis grocery store, I feel like I'm in a sea of technology. That or rotten produce, I can't tell the difference.
-The world would be a better place if everyone had a hoverboard
Or do both, like in the House episode where he wrote "Not this leg" on the good leg and "Not this leg either" on the bad one.
What sound do people on rollercoasters make? Hint: it's not Xbox 360.
There's an AJAX joke here somewhere...
So you're saying they can't count to a hundred. Well then, that's different.
How we know is more important than what we know.
Well you've certainly picked up the legendary surgeon asshole-ego in medical school. Well done!
Price check in OR 3. Price check in OR 3.
"Oh my god. Do you call yourself a surgeon!?"
"Well, no, Mrs. Smith, I'm the IT trainee assigned to the OR. But - I AM a certified Microsoft System Engineer."
In Soviet Russia, surgery is for implanting RFID tracking objects in you!
She did say something wrong. Her ID isn't in "the low 4 digits"; I checked her IP and she's a sock puppet run from a well known medical school.
I know this because my ID is in the low 2 digits.
Of course I'm posting anonymously to protect the reputation of the admin staff.
Why don't they just add a six foot piece of surgical string to all surgical tools? A patient with long strings dangling out after an op will be fairly obvious.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!