Essay On Surgical Count

The surgical count is one the most important things that has to be performed when doing a surgical procedure. This policy was put in place to protect the patients from foreign objects being left in their bodies due to carelessness and lack of responsibility. The surgical count is done three times during an operation. It is counted concurrently with the circulator making sure both see the item being counted and ay the numbers out loud. The initial count should be done before the patient enters the room if this doesn’t occur it at least needs to be done before the first incision is made. The soft count includes sponges, blades, hypo needles, bovie tips with the scratch pad, and all sutures. These get counted for every single procedure no matter how big or how small it is just as a safety precaution. The “soft” count is the items that are at a higher chance to get left inside a patient. Either because they are so small that you can’t see it or it gets hidden inside the wound, for example if lap sponges soak up a lot of blood it could be left behind due to it being
It usually occurs when there is a cavity closed within a cavity, for example the uterus or the abdomen. The surgical tech has to know where all their countable items are even ones that have fallen off the sterile field. When beginning this count you always start on the field. Once everything on the field is counted the mayo stand is checked then the back table, double basin, and then anywhere off the sterile field is checked by the circulator. To make it easier for the count a kick bucket should be made to put all the used sponges in so that the circulator can physically separate each sponge instead of them being piled up on your field where she would have to wait for you to count them. If an item has fallen off the field let your circulator know so that they can put the item somewhere visible to make sure it is not left out of the