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RFID 100% Accurate in Surgical Sponge Tracking Test
A blinded clinical trial of radio frequency identification chips resulted in an accuracy rate far better than traditional counting or use of radiographs for tracking surgical sponges.
One important statistic you ommitted is the rate at which surgical sponges are retained in patients as a function of the usage of surgical sponges. I suspect this is some small number per million, i.e. for every million sponges used five are retained in patients. Given this rate of retention we can then do a cost benefit analysis. Cost per sponge retained = $200,000 Sponges retained per million sponges used = 5 Cost per million sponges used = 5 * $200,000 = $1,000,000. Cost per sponge = $1,000,000 / 1,000,000 = $1 Now assume the RFID sponge retention rate is zero per million sponges used. (Perfection is unlikely but it makes the math easy.) If the RFID sponge costs $1 more than an orginary sponge it will not be cost effective. If the RFID sponge costs les than an ordinary sponge it will be cost effective.