# Case Study: Zero Retained Sponges with RFID

URL: https://proudtek.com/blog/case-study-regional-hospital-rfid-surgical-sponge-rss-prevention/
Source URL: https://proudtek.com/blog/case-study-regional-hospital-rfid-surgical-sponge-rss-prevention/
Generated: 2026-03-16T01:42:30.697Z
Kind: article
Publisher: Proud Tek Co., Limited
Author: Proud Tek Editorial Team (RFID & NFC Technical Content Team)
Published: 2026-03-16T01:42:30.697Z
Last Modified: 2026-06-10T18:00:00Z
Last Reviewed: 2026-06-10T18:00:00Z
Credentials: ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, RoHS Compliant, CE Marking, REACH Compliant
Image: https://proudtek.com/blog-images/case-study-regional-hospital-rfid-surgical-sponge-rss-prevention.jpg
Image Alt: Team of surgeons operating in a well-equipped operating room — the procedure environment where RFID sponge tracking prevented retained surgical items.

## Description
A 380-bed regional hospital deployed RFID-tagged surgical sponges across 14 operating rooms and 2 trauma bays in 9 months. They achieved zero retained...

## Summary
- A 380-bed regional hospital deployed RFID-tagged surgical sponges across 14 operating rooms and 2 trauma bays in 9 months.

## Buyer Guidance
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## FAQ
- Q: Was the +90 seconds per case acceptable to surgeons?
  A: Most adapted within 2 weeks. The customer measured turnover time (TOT) before and after — net change was +30 seconds because some manual recount steps were eliminated, not the full 90.
- Q: How did this integrate with the existing Stryker SurgiCount system?
  A: Stryker SurgiCount remained for non-tagged items (instruments, needles); tagged sponges flowed through both the wand and SurgiCount workflows with redundant logging.
- Q: What's the per-case consumable cost?
  A: +$8.40 average. The customer absorbs this in OR overhead rather than charging separately, reasoning that RSS-prevention cost should not be patient-billable.
- Q: Could a smaller hospital with 4–6 ORs justify this?
  A: Yes — but capex per OR is similar regardless of count, so per-OR cost lands closer to $35K. Smaller hospitals usually justify on single-event avoidance over 5 years, especially when modelled against the ~$166K average direct cost the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority associates with each RSI event (cited by STERIS in their 2023 RSI prevention writeup).
- Q: How does this case study compare to STERIS ORLocate or Stryker SurgiCount as standalone systems?
  A: The customer effectively layered the RFID wand on top of SurgiCount rather than replacing it; the same approach is workable with STERIS ORLocate (which publishes a 19-inch in-vivo locator range and handheld counter at ~6 inches for HF RFID-tagged gauze in 77+ SKUs). The decisive factor in most RFP decisions is sponge SKU coverage — surgeons want their preferred sponge sizes available in tagged form before they will sign off on the workflow change. The customer ran a 6-week tagged-sponge SKU pilot before the wider rollout for that reason.
- Q: How long until the next Joint Commission survey saw the documentation findings drop?
  A: The next survey was at month 11 post-go-live (the customer is on a triennial cycle with interim focus visits). Findings dropped from 14 → 2 in that visit. The two remaining findings were unrelated to surgical counts: one was instrument-tray content variance and one was sterile-storage shelving height. AORN's RSI guideline language and the Joint Commission's Sentinel Event Alert #51 (Preventing unintended retained foreign objects) were the primary references cited in the closeout report.

## Machine Routes
- JSON: https://proudtek.com/machine/blog/case-study-regional-hospital-rfid-surgical-sponge-rss-prevention.json
- Text: https://proudtek.com/machine/blog/case-study-regional-hospital-rfid-surgical-sponge-rss-prevention.txt