Haldor Advanced Technologies out of Maumelle, Arkansas won FDA clearance to market its ORLocate surgical tool tracking system. The package includes a central console, RFID tags, buckets and trays that know when tools are placed on them, and a locator to find anything that might have been left inside the patient.
From the press release:
ORLocate™ has tested 99.8 percent accurate when counting and monitoring the location of sponges and instruments during lab testing by NAMSA in Northwood, Ohio, the world’s leading medical device contract research organization, and labs in Germany and Israel. It works by tagging each item used in surgery with a unique RFID identity. The tag is about the size of a small hearing aid battery. The tagged instruments and sponges are detected via antennas located throughout the sterile field and a robust software application that continuously and automatically performs the counting.
Before procedures, a count of items is registered, and as they are used, the information is logged electronically.
Along with the OR system, ORLocate offers an additional platform for use in the Sterile Processing and Distribution Departments (SPD) that provides advanced tracking solutions for the lifecycle of surgical instruments. This is done by enabling simple and accurate packing of surgery sets in the sterile processing department. Instruments are tagged and carefully tracked in the system, allowing hospitals to maximize the overall productivity while automatically identifying defective instruments that could pose a risk to patient care and indentifying instruments that need maintenance.
The RFID technology allows ORLocate to:
* Provide a complete and integrated solution to help reduce cases of retained surgical items in patients’ bodies.
* Combine tracking technology and asset management services to meet the highest healthcare standards.
* Potentially increase efficiency of operating room logistics and workflow processes.
* Reduce time-consuming counting and inventory efforts.
* Enable simple and accurate packing of surgery sets in the sterile processing department.
* Enable hospitals to provide higher and safer quality of care for patients.
Press release: New Technology for Tracking Surgical Instruments, Sponges During Surgery Earns FDA Clearance…
Product page: ORLocate