Gossypiboma: tales of lost sponges and lessons learned

Lisa K McIntyre1, Gregory J Jurkovich, Martin L D Gunn

  • 1Department of Surgery, University of Washington, Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, Washington 98104, USA. lmcintyr@u.washington.edu

Abstract

Insights

Retained surgical sponges are preventable errors. Policy changes at an academic medical center, following a review of retained laparotomy sponges, have successfully eliminated further incidents.

Area of Science:

  • Medical quality improvement
  • Surgical patient safety

Background:

  • Retained surgical sponges are a known patient safety concern.
  • These events, classified as sentinel events, necessitate thorough investigation to identify systemic failures.

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