ABSTRACT
The importance of ensuring the removal of all foreign bodies from a patient after surgery cannot be overstated. Retention of surgical instrumentation inside body tissues, most often surgical sponges, is an inconvenience for the patient at best and can lead to severe physiological consequences in extreme cases. Most operating rooms utilize a sponges, sharps, and instruments count to prevent this occurrence, but in the heat of surgical operation, especially when unforeseen circumstances occur during an operation that require emergency measures to be taken, mistakes can and do happen. These occasional mistakes in the sponge count, while rare, can result in both physical harm to the patient and damage to the surgeon via consequential malpractice suits.
