Tonight on the Discovery Health channel I watched When Surgical Tools Get Left Behind, parts I and II. Objects left in a patient after surgery is a major problem, as about 1,500 people in the U.S. alone learn first hand every year (source). There is even a national safety project devoted to preventing retained surgical objects, No Thing Left Behind, which details safety procedures such as "Sponge Accounting" (apparently two thirds of the objects left behind are sponges, called gossypiboma; the sponges are tiny little gauze things that look like tissue once they're soaked with blood). These objects can cause severe complications down the road, including pain and infection, and when the body encapsulates the object in tissue, they can be mistaken for tumors.
Among the retained objects featured in the show were a retractor (a metal object about the size and shape of a ruler), sponges and gauze, a plastic tube (left shoved down a kid's throat!) and a 9-inch clamp. In one case the object caused an infection by flesh-eating bacteria (which was cured by packing the wound with bleach-soaked gauze) and another caused gangrene of the ribs. Other common side effects were depression, PTSD, and painkiller addiction.
Overall, the show was pretty mediocre, with the sequel being slightly better than the first. It was fairly informative-- it explained the procedure of counting surgical equipment before and after an operation, and showed a new way of using barcodes to do so. It also gave a lot of good background information about the likelihood and risk factors for having a tool left behind. But many of the cases ran into each other after the first twenty minutes. I found myself wishing they featured more large objects, or else a wider variety of objects (which the second did, I suppose). Even though sponges were the most common, and could cause just as terrible complications, they got a bit old to watch. I would definitely still recommend it if nothing else was on, but I wish I'd watched Doctor Who instead.
Among the retained objects featured in the show were a retractor (a metal object about the size and shape of a ruler), sponges and gauze, a plastic tube (left shoved down a kid's throat!) and a 9-inch clamp. In one case the object caused an infection by flesh-eating bacteria (which was cured by packing the wound with bleach-soaked gauze) and another caused gangrene of the ribs. Other common side effects were depression, PTSD, and painkiller addiction.
Overall, the show was pretty mediocre, with the sequel being slightly better than the first. It was fairly informative-- it explained the procedure of counting surgical equipment before and after an operation, and showed a new way of using barcodes to do so. It also gave a lot of good background information about the likelihood and risk factors for having a tool left behind. But many of the cases ran into each other after the first twenty minutes. I found myself wishing they featured more large objects, or else a wider variety of objects (which the second did, I suppose). Even though sponges were the most common, and could cause just as terrible complications, they got a bit old to watch. I would definitely still recommend it if nothing else was on, but I wish I'd watched Doctor Who instead.
Overall: 2.5/5 skulls
