Retained surgical instruments

A retained surgical instrument is any item inadvertently left behind in a patient’s body in the course of surgery. There are few books about it and it is thought to be underreported.[1] As a preventable medical error, it occurs more frequently than "wrong site" surgery. The consequences of retained surgical tools include injury, repeated surgery, excess monetary cost, loss of hospital credibility and in some cases the death of the patient.[2][3][4]

  1. ^ Gibbs, Verna C. “Chapter 22. The Retained Surgical Sponge.”
  2. ^ "General Instrument Sourcebook - KMedic" (PDF). Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  3. ^ "Sterilized surgical instruments". Archived from the original on October 27, 2016. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  4. ^ Renee Nimitz, Surgical Instrumentation: an Interactive Approach (Saunders, 2010) 1416037020, pxiii