Not Just an OR Problem

"Impossible." "Can't happen here."

Sound familiar? No one expects to leave a sponge, needle, or other item in a patient after a procedure is done, but events like these do occur. In this issue of the Risk Management Reporter, we describe prevention strategies to reduce the likelihood of leaving something behind, which according to recent data from the Joint Commission, occurs more often than any other type of sentinel event reviewed by the accrediting agency. Indeed, unintentionally retained "foreign bodies," as the Joint Commission calls them, have been the top sentinel event...