AORN recommended practices

RP I

A consistent multidisciplinary approach for preventing RSIs should be used during all surgical and invasive procedures

The ORLocate® system provides a consistent multidisciplinary approach for all surgical and invasive procedures.

RP II

Radiopaque surgical soft goods (e.g., sponges, towels, textiles) opened onto the sterile field should be accounted for during all procedures for which soft goods are used

The ORLocate® constantly monitors, tracks and counts all tagged soft goods before, during and at the end of the surgical procedure.

RP III

Sharps and other miscellaneous items that are opened onto the sterile field should be accounted for during all procedures for which sharps and miscellaneous items are used.

The ORLocate® provides a user-friendly method to accommodate tracking untagged items using a manual count procedure

RP IV

Instruments should be accounted for on all procedures in which the likelihood exists that an instrument could be retained.

The ORLocate® counts, tracks and monitors the location of all tagged surgical instruments before, during and at the end of the surgical procedure to reconcile the initial and final instrument count.

RP VI

Standardized measures for investigation and reconciliation of count discrepancies should be taken during the closing count and before the end of surgery. When a discrepancy in the count(s) is identified, the surgical team should carry out steps to locate the missing item.

In the event of a non-reconciled count, the ORLocate® mobile locator is used to locate the missing sponge/s or instrument/s and reconcile the final count. The ORLocate® prohibits the closing of a procedure if any tagged item is missing

RP VII

Preoperative staff members may consider the use of adjunct technologies to supplement manual count procedures.

The ORLocate® is an adjunct technology. In fact, ORLocate® is the only RFID-based technology on the market that counts, monitors and tracks surgical instruments and sponges before, during and after a procedure to increase patient safety and reduce the occurrence of retained surgical items.

RP VIII

Personnel should receive initial and ongoing

education and demonstrate competency in the performance of standardized measures to prevent RSIs.

The ORLocate® team will help OR teams with training on best practices to reduce retained surgical items. Ongoingeducation is an integral part of the

ORLocate and hospital partnership

RP IX

Measures taken for the prevention of RSIs should be documented in the patient’s medical record.

The ORLocate® provides information on the initial count of tagged instruments and sponges and non-tagged items. The system documents when and what additional items were added to the initial count and the final count reconciliation. A report can then be generated by a circulating nurse to be included in a patient’s medical record.

RP X

Policies and procedures for the prevention of RSIs and unretrieved device fragments should be developed, reviewed periodically, revised as necessary, and readily available in the practice setting.

The ORLocate® provides manuals and other documents that support hospitals in better outlining their policies and procedures.

RP XI

A quality assurance/performance improvement process should be in place to evaluate the incident and risks of RSIs and to improve patient safety.

Verification and validation results, as well as usability results and other data captured and produced by the ORLocate^®, can be included in the documentation to support quality assurance efforts.