The technology employed in medicine today, often in the form of tough computerized systems and notebooks, helps ensure patient safety in a rather more efficient and overall better manner than manual record-keeping ever could. The World Health Organization recently named some areas in which patient safety had to to be improved. Panasonic rugged laptops can be utilized to do this.
The concept of inventory might sound more like a clerical job than one directly related to patient health and safety. But tracking the number and model of surgical tools utilized in the OR is a matter of patient safety, given that every year there are many cases of items being left inside patients.
While there are definitely cases where a clip or small object of some kind are sewn up within a patient without causing unpleasant effects, most cases will cause the patient discomfort, infections and disease. In some cases, these objects can also be deadly if not found and removed.
Counting the tools before, during and following an operation is a method to ensure this does not happen. Yet this strategy has not prevented cases of this occuring over time. Even the American College of Surgeons printed a study in 2008 that asserted counting was unreliable. With today's technology, there are new paths to inventory surgical instruments to make the likelihood of an object being left within a patient very rare.
Rugged systems in the OR can now be used to trace surgical tools and sponges to be sure that the same ones are there at the end than were at the beginning. Radio frequency identification is used to scan inventory and supplies to be sure that everything is outside of the patient following the surgery. This technology is also used to scan barcodes to make sure that information like patient identification, medicine identification and correct procedures are properly scheduled.
The concept of inventory might sound more like a clerical job than one directly related to patient health and safety. But tracking the number and model of surgical tools utilized in the OR is a matter of patient safety, given that every year there are many cases of items being left inside patients.
While there are definitely cases where a clip or small object of some kind are sewn up within a patient without causing unpleasant effects, most cases will cause the patient discomfort, infections and disease. In some cases, these objects can also be deadly if not found and removed.
Counting the tools before, during and following an operation is a method to ensure this does not happen. Yet this strategy has not prevented cases of this occuring over time. Even the American College of Surgeons printed a study in 2008 that asserted counting was unreliable. With today's technology, there are new paths to inventory surgical instruments to make the likelihood of an object being left within a patient very rare.
Rugged systems in the OR can now be used to trace surgical tools and sponges to be sure that the same ones are there at the end than were at the beginning. Radio frequency identification is used to scan inventory and supplies to be sure that everything is outside of the patient following the surgery. This technology is also used to scan barcodes to make sure that information like patient identification, medicine identification and correct procedures are properly scheduled.
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Rugged computers that can be sterilized and utilized in an operating room help protect patients. For these sorts of rugged systems like the Panasonic CF18, check out Rugged Depot at ruggeddepot.com.
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