Evaluating the Impact of Radio Frequency Identification Retained Surgical Instruments Tracking on Patient Safety: Literature Review

Abstract

Background: Retained surgical instruments (RSI) are one of the most serious preventable complications in operating room settings, potentially leading to profound adverse effects for patients, as well as costly legal and financial consequences for hospitals. Safety measures to eliminate RSIs have been widely adopted in the United States and abroad, but despite widespread efforts, medical errors with RSI have not been eliminated.Objective: Through a systematic review of recent studies, we aimed to identify the impact of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology on reducing RSI errors and improving patient safety.Methods: A literature search on the effects of RFID technology on RSI error reduction was conducted in PubMed and CINAHL (2000-2016). Relevant articles were selected and reviewed by 4 researchers.Results: After the literature search, 385 articles were identified and the full texts of the 88 articles were assessed for eligibility. Of these, 5 articles were included to evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of using RFID for preventing RSI-related errors. The use of RFID resulted in rapid detection of RSI through body tissue with high accuracy rates, reducing risk of counting errors and improving workflow. Conclusions:Based on the existing literature, RFID technology seems to have the potential to substantially improve patient safety by reducing RSI errors, although the body of evidence is currently limited. Better designed research studies are needed to get a clear understanding of this domain and to find new opportunities to use this technology and improve patient safety.

A qualitative content analysis of retained surgical items: learning from root cause analysis investigations

“…RSIs with high accuracy rates, reducing the risk of counting errors and improving workflow, but the evidence base was limited. (31) Given the infrequency of RSIs, evaluation of these technologies will be challenging and to be affordable may need to focus on the usability of the technologies, measuring process indicators such as surgical counting errors, rather than outcomes. ( 6)…”

Innovaciones que pueden cambiarlo todo: el futuro de la enfermería quirúrgica

“…confirmaron posteriormente la eficacia del uso de radiofrecuencia para reducir los casos de retención de material quirúrgico (25) .…”

Re: Everything is awesome: Don't forget the lego

“…Second, the uncertainty of whether the found Lego heads actually corresponded to the heads ingested for this study could confound the interpretation of the results. In our proposed POOP trial, the toy pieces will be fixed with radio-frequency identification tags, facilitating tracking and ensuring the safety of all subjects, 4 both to overcome issues with participants struggling to locate their Lego and for internal tracking in cases of concern.…”