Abstract:
A surgical sponge is provided and adapted to prevent unaccounted disposal thereof. The sponge includes an absorbent pad and a visually identifiable member attached to the pad. The visually identifiable member assists in identification and accounting in a surgical environment. Finally, a metallic tag of sufficient size is incorporated with the sponge to provide detection by a metal detector device upon disposal of the sponge.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]    This is related to U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,247 issued Aug. 19, 1997, U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,621 issued Nov. 19, 1996 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,222,450 issued Apr. 24, 2001, the contents of which are specifically incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0003]    This invention relates generally to surgical sponges and apparatus for the accounting thererof during and after surgical procedures. More particularly, the present invention relates to improved surgical sponges adapted for use with a metal detector system designed to detect the inadvertent disposal of objects, such as surgical instruments, into receptacles and which are particularly useful in medical facilities and the like. Specifically, the present invention relates to improved surgical sponges and systems therefor arranged to prevent the disposal of such sponges without being accounted for.  
           [0004]    2. Description of the Prior Art  
           [0005]    One of the major problems in the health care industry today is the high cost of patient care. While many factors contribute to this cost, one of these factors is the difficulty in controlling waste as well as unnecessary surgical procedures in a hospital environment. In the operating room, surgical instruments are inadvertently but routinely discarded along with disposable drapes, gowns, sponges and the like after an operation. These expensive instruments are intended for reuse, and their disposal represents a substantial waste. Moreover, these instruments as well as surgical dressings and sponges utilized during an operation must be carefully accounted for in order to avoid a potentially time-consuming and difficult search including the possibility of opening up a patient&#39;s sutured area to find any missing items.  
           [0006]    Moreover, used disposable surgical drapes, gowns, sponges and the like, are generally deposited in a large receptacle bag approximately the size of a lawn and garden trash and leaf bag designated for such waste. These bags are held for use in an open position in each operating room by a bag holder, typically in the form of a wheeled cart. Hospital personnel merely wad up used drapes and gowns and stuff them into the receptacle bag for disposal. Sponges are also similarly discarded after they have all been accounted for. As can be readily appreciated, valuable surgical instruments as well as sponges can easily become bundled with the used drapes and gowns, and disposed inadvertently or otherwise.  
           [0007]    It is important in a surgical environment that instruments, dressings and sponges be accounted for in order to prevent the possible situation wherein they remain inside a patient after closure and suturing. There are numerous known prior art devices and methods available for keeping track of as well as detecting surgical implements including instruments and sponges. Some of these are designed for detecting the surgical implements if left inside a patient, while others are designed to provide an accounting scheme designed to insure that all implements are accounted for before suturing the patient. Some of the systems are passive in nature while others require elaborate and expensive active sensors or other detection devices. Examples of these include the U.S. Pat. No. 4,193,405, No. 4,658,818 and No. 5,923,001. Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,837, No. 5,650,596 and No. 5,078,569 all disclose systems whereby sponges, needles and the like are coded in an accounting display and/or system so that their absence becomes evident prior to patient closure.  
           [0008]    Metal detectors of various types are also well known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,425 discloses a device designed to cover a receptacle for use in a hospital environment to detect the inadvertent disposal of metal articles in such a receptacle. As is pointed out therein, however, a significant problem in a hospital environment, and in particular surgical environments, is the presence of numerous metal objects surrounding the receptacle. Such metal objects proximate the detector can cause the inadvertent triggering of the detector alarm system without a metallic article having actually been placed therein due to false readings from metal articles immediately surrounding or near the top of such a receptacle. The devices illustrated in the above-identified related U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,247, No. 5,576,621 and No. 6,222,450 are designed to avoid these problems. However, these devices are specifically designed and envisioned for use to prevent the inadvertent disposal of larger surgical instruments. Non-metallic items, or metallic items which are quite small, which are used in surgery, and in particular surgical sponges, are not detected by such devices. Nonetheless, these items, like the surgical instruments, must be accounted for and may not be left inside a patient.  
           [0009]    Previously, systems were provided to routinely screen and detect retained surgical materials in the bodies of human patients while still under anesthesia and on the operating room table prior to the surgical wound closure. These procedures are time-consuming and expensive. Moreover, after-the-fact detection tags and systems cause substantial expense and tremendous liability problems. Thus, there remains a need for surgical sponge designs and systems that obviate such post surgical processes without requiring expensive active tags and sensors. The present invention satisfies this need.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0010]    Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide an improved surgical sponge adapted for easy accounting in a surgical environment.  
           [0011]    It is another object of the present invention to provide an accounting system for surgical sponges and the like that takes advantage of existing monitor devices.  
           [0012]    Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improvement to surgical sponge design that prevents them from being inadvertently discarded in a surgical environment without being accounted for.  
           [0013]    To achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a surgical sponge is provided and adapted to prevent unaccounted disposal thereof. The sponge includes an absorbent pad and a visually identifiable member attached to the pad. The visually identifiable member assists in identification and accounting in a surgical environment. Finally, a metallic tag of sufficient size is incorporated with the sponge to provide detection by a metal detector device upon disposal of the sponge.  
           [0014]    In one form of the invention, the visually identifiable member is color-coded and is in the form of a tail element attached to and extending outwardly from the pad. In another form, the metal tag is made from metal foil and is disposed in or along the color-coded identification tail element.  
           [0015]    Still another form of the invention includes an apparatus and system which accounts for surgical sponge usage and location in a surgical environment. The apparatus includes a disposal receptacle for receiving used surgical materials and other disposable articles used in a surgical environment. A metal detection device is then provided for detecting the passage of selected articles therethrough into the receptacle. Finally, surgical sponges are provided each having an absorbent pad, a color coded identification element extending outwardly from the pad, and a metallic tag disposed within the identification element of sufficient size to trigger the metal detection device when passed therethrough into the disposal receptacle.  
           [0016]    Yet another aspect of the invention is in the form of an improvement to a detection system to account for non-metallic surgical implements, sponges and articles utilized in a surgical environment. The system includes a receptacle to receive disposable materials, and a metal detection apparatus mountable over the receptacle to detect the inadvertent disposal of metallic surgical instruments into the receptacle. The improvement is provided wherein the implement includes a color-coded identification element extending outwardly therefrom, and a metallic tag disposed within the identification element of sufficient size to trigger the metal detection apparatus when passed therethrough into the receptacle. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]    The accompanying drawings which are incorporated in and form a part of the specification illustrate a preferred embodiment of the present invention and, together with a description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. In the drawings:  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a surgical sponge adapted in accordance with the present invention; and  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 2 is a side perspective view of a metal detection device utilized in a surgical environment for detecting the inadvertent disposal of instruments in accordance with the related references cited above and incorporated herein by reference.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0020]    Referring now to FIG. 1, a surgical sponge  10  is illustrated and includes a nonmetallic absorbent pad  12 . An elongated visually identifiable member  14  is secured to the pad  12  and extends preferably outwardly therefrom. It should be understood, however, that any essentially nonmetallic implement, such as a dressing, needles and the like, can be utilized with the present invention. In this instance, the visually identifiable member  14  may be attached to the implement in a manner similar to its attachment to the pad  12 .  
         [0021]    As can be seen from FIG. 1, the interior end  16  of the member  14  is preferably attached within the pad  12  utilizing any known means such as stitching or glue. The outwardly extending portion  18  projects a distance from the pad  12 . The outward portion or arm  18  is preferably brightly color-coded in a color contrasting with the colors typically found in a body cavity of a patient. Such colors may include yellow, orange, lavender, green and the like. This provides two primary benefits. First, when the sponge  10  is placed within the body cavity of a patient, for example, so that the pad  10  becomes absorbed in blood and other bodily fluids, the color of the outer end arm  18  can still be readily seen since it is contrasted with the fluid and tissue colors of the patient. Moreover, the colors utilized with the outer end portion  18  may also be color matched or coordinated to a box container or other holder to permit easy counting to determine the absence of any sponge or implement  10  after the surgery is complete.  
         [0022]    However, mere color coding of tagged or other identifying elements associated with the sponge or other implement  10  by itself is still insufficient. This is due to the fact that while the color contrast may make the sponges easier to identify within the body cavity of a patient, or the absence of the proper number of sponges according to the color coordinated container would indicate a lack of accounting of all the sponges, this still does not help in determining the location of any missing sponges. Thus, if a patient&#39;s wound is closed and then the number of sponges found to be inaccurate, the patient may still need to be opened up again to further look for the missing sponges or other components.  
         [0023]    To obviate the above problem without using expensive active sensors as in the prior art, the sponge or implement  10  of the present invention further includes a metallic tag  20  associated with the visually identifiable member  14  and the pad  12 . Prior to my metal detector inventions referenced above and incorporated herein by reference, such metal tags would not be particularly helpful in the process of accounting for all the sponges or implements  10  as well as locating any that appear to be missing. However, the metal detector  22  of my prior patents include a receptacle bag  24  as typically utilized in a surgery environment, a movable tubular support structure  28  for the receptacle bag  24 , and a metal detector device  28  disposed over the opening  30  of the bag  24 . The metal detector device  28  is designed to detect the passage of significant metal members through the opening  30  into the bag  24 , primarily to prevent the inadvertent disposal of expensive surgical instruments. However, this metal detection system may be utilized with the sponge design of my present invention.  
         [0024]    Since a primary objective of the present invention is to the eliminate the need of opening up a patient&#39;s wound after suturing it closed in order to locate any missing implements such as sponges, dressings, needles and the like, a preferred accounting system would include a mechanism whereby any such nonmetallic items inadvertently and unintentionally discarded into a receptacle bag would automatically be accounted for. In this manner, when other accounting systems, such as visual identification and color coding arrangements, determine the absence of one or more such implements, it no longer becomes necessary to open up a patient under the assumption that it has been left therewithin. Moreover, it will no longer becomes necessary to physically search the infectious waste bags to locate any missing sponges and the like.  
         [0025]    To accomplish this purpose, the metal tag  20  is incorporated into the sponge  10  preferably by physically disposing it within the elongated visually identifiable member  14 . In most preferred form, the metallic tag  20  is a metal foil preferably in the form of a foil string extending substantially along the length of the member  14 . The metal tag  20  is of sufficient size so that it will trigger the metal detector  28  if passed therethrough. In this manner, if the sponge  10  is inadvertently disposed within the receptacle  24  without first accounting for it, the detector  28  will be triggered so as to thereby account for the discarded sponge  10 . If several such sponges are discarded in this manner, the detector  28  will indicate their disposal and thus account for such missing items. After the surgical procedure is complete, the remaining sponges  10  may be counted and identified by their color coded identifiable element  14 , and this number may then be added to the number detected by the device  28 . If in this instance, there remains a sponge or implement  10  that is missing, the odds become substantially greater that it has in fact been left within the patient, and x-rays may then be taken to detect the metal tag contained in the implement or sponge  10 . Alternatively, a metal detector wand similar to those presently used with airport security could be moved over the patient to determine the presence of a metal tagged sponge within the patient rather than exposing the patient to possibly unnecessary as well as costly and time consuming x-rays.  
         [0026]    It should be clear from the above description that the present invention provides a combination technique and system using both visual identification elements as well as metal tags to more accurately determine the disposition and location of any discarded, substantially nonmetallic surgical implements such as sponges, dressings and the like. The present invention is inexpensive to manufacture and implement and is utilized with a now existing metal detection device and system which was originally designed not for nonmetallic surgical implements, but rather for the prevention of inadvertent disposal of expensive surgical instruments. The present invention will substantially reduce hospital surgical expenses by providing a simple device and system for accounting for sponges and other surgical implements discarded during and after surgery. Moreover, the present invention will significantly reduce the likelihood of postoperative procedures whereby the patient&#39;s wound must be re-opened to search for missing implements or surgical materials. This will also significantly reduce the expense of hospital surgical procedures as well as the liability exposure from unnecessary and perhaps even negligent surgical procedures.  
         [0027]    The foregoing description and the illustrative embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail in varying modifications and alternate embodiments. It should be understood, however, that the foregoing description of the present invention is exemplary only, and that the scope of the present invention is to be limited to the claims as interpreted in view of the prior art. Moreover, the invention illustratively disclosed herein suitably might be practiced in the absence of any element which is not specifically disclosed herein.