ClearCount Medical Solutions announced that the University of California, Irvine Medical Center in Orange County, Calif., has implemented the RFID-based SmartSponge System for the prevention of retained surgical sponge incidents.

The SmartSponge System improves patient safety with both count reconciliation and detection technology to avoid retained surgical incidents. With RFID technology, the system uniquely identifies each sponge used during surgery to enable a double layer of protection.

UC Irvine has also implemented ClearCount’s SmartWand-DTX to provide additional protection against retained sponges in all ambulatory and labor and delivery facilities. Staff members, including both surgeons and operating room staff, can use the SmartWand handheld to identify any remaining sponges that may be located in the patient.

The SmartSponge System and SmartWand-DTX, both of which are FDA-cleared, enable staff to operate at an exceptional level of patient safety, save time, prevent unnecessary X-rays, reduce the possibility of user error, minimize delays in procedures and reduce the hassles associated with count discrepancies.