Stryker SurgiCount Safety-Sponge System Surpasses 10 Million Procedures

KALAMAZOO, Michigan, USA, June 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Stryker today announced that more than 180 million SurgiCount Safety Sponges have been used in an estimated 10 million surgeries around the United States in the past five years.

"The successful implementation of SurgiCount at nearly 500 hospitals nationwide demonstrates the difference hospitals can make in strengthening patient-safety protocols," said Dylan Crotty, vice president and general manager of Stryker Surgical. "SurgiCount can help protect a hospital's patients, staff and bottom line by helping to reduce the risk of the most common surgical error, retained sponges."

Despite efforts by hospitals nationwide to improve patient safety, retained surgical items (RSIs) continue to be the No.1 reported surgical "never event"¹, and 69 percent of all RSIs are  retained surgical sponges.²  There are an estimated 11 incidents of surgical sponges being left inside patients every day in the United States, resulting in unnecessary pain and suffering and an average annual cost of $2.4 billion to the health care system.^1,3

Numerous independent organizations — including The Joint Commission, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses and the American College of Surgeons — recommend the use of adjunct technology to supplement manual sponge counting to reduce the risk of retained sponges.

The SurgiCount Safety-Sponge System is the market-leading solution, utilizing  uniquely  identified sponges and towels to provide a precise, real-time count so the surgical team can close a procedure — and a patient — with confidence. Unlike the traditional manual counting procedure, which relies on a whiteboard that is erased at the end of a procedure, a record of the SurgiCount-verified correct count is maintained in the hospital's SurgiCount 360 software so that surgeons, nurses and hospital administrators have a permanent record of the verified count.

When used in conjunction with the manual counting process, SurgiCount significantly reduces the risk of retained sponges by addressing the problem of false-correct counts. The SurgiCount system is currently in use in more than 480 hospitals nationwide, and in an estimated 10 million- plus procedures, the system has never failed to identify a retained sponge.

About Stryker

Stryker is one of the world's leading medical technology companies and, together with our customers, we are driven to make healthcare better. The Company offers a diverse array of innovative products and services in Orthopaedics, Medical and Surgical, and Neurotechnology and Spine that help improve patient and hospital outcomes. Stryker is active in over 100 countries around the world. Please contact us for more information at www.stryker.com.

1.       Sloan T. August 12, 2013. The High Cost of Inaction: Retained Surgical Sponges are Draining Hospital Finances and Damaging Reputations.

2.       Gawande, A et al. Risk Factors for Retained Instruments and Sponges after Surgery. N Engl J Med. 2003; 348:0229-35.

3.       Cima R et al. Incidence and Characteristics of Potential and Actual Retained Foreign Object Events in Surgical Patients. J Am Coll Surg 2008; 80-87.

Media Contact:
Margeaux Appel, Account Executive
The Pinkston Group
Phone: 703.722.8930
Email: [email protected]

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SOURCE Stryker

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