Loyola Medical Center develops a worthy sponge tracking system

Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood has announced plans to use new technology that will help surgical teams keep track of all sponges used during a procedure.

About a thousand times a year, a surgical sponge is left inside a patient during a procedure.

To keep that from happening at its facility, Loyola is becoming one of the first hospitals in the country to use sponges labeled with bar codes.

A nurse will scan each sponge before and after it's used, and the system will alert the operating team if any sponges are left behind. Doctors and nurses will continue to do manual counts.

Surgical sponges, made of lightweight gauze, are used to soak up blood and protect organs. Once soaked in blood, a sponge can blend in and easily be missed.