AHRQ Patient Safety Network: Natural history of retained surgical items supports the need for team training, early recognition, and prompt retrieval.

AHRQ Patient Safety Network

Most cases of retained foreign objects at surgery are due to team, rather than individual, errors.
Am J Surg. 2014;208:65-72.

Natural history of retained surgical items supports the need for team training, early recognition, and prompt retrieval.

Stawicki SP, Cook CH, Anderson HL III, et al; OPUS 12 Foundation Multicenter Trials Group. Am J Surg. 2014;208:65-72.

In this retrospective analysis, most instances of unintentionally retained foreign objects were due to team errors, highlighting the importance of effective teamwork training. Errors attributed to individual actions accounted for less than 10% of cases.

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