Strategies to prevent inadvertent retained surgical items: An integrative review

Patients count on it: an initiative to reduce incorrect counts and prevent retained surgical items.

Retained surgical items were the most frequently reported sentinel event in 2010, according to The Joint Commission. Perioperative nurse leaders at Children's Hospital Boston, a pediatric teaching hospital, conducted a quality improvement initiative to reduce or eliminate incorrect counts and count discrepancies, which increase the risk of an item being unintentionally retained after surgery. W...

A 4-year effort to prevent retained items.

Higher awareness may lower the odds of retained surgical items.

Preventing retained surgical items: what role does technology play?

Implementing AORN recommended practices for prevention of retained surgical items.

Retention of a surgical item is a preventable event that can result in patient injury. AORN's "Recommended practices for prevention of retained surgical items" emphasizes the importance of using a multidisciplinary approach for prevention. Procedures should include counts of soft goods, needles, miscellaneous items, and instruments, and efforts should be made to prevent retention of fragments o...