Technology Keeps Sponges Out of Patients
If a physician leaves a surgical sponge behind while performing an operation, the result can be infection or even death. During operations, nurses track surgical sponge usage by counting them manually. Not surprisingly, this method results in many errors. In the US alone, it’s estimated that there are 3,000 to 5,000 cases of retained sponges annually. Technology has changed though. Retailers, inventory and supply chain departments long ago implemented computer-based systems using scanners and bar coding to reduce human errors in reconciling and counting items.With this in mind, SurgiCount Medical, a division of Patient Safety Technologies, Inc. created the Safety-Sponge System to ensure that sponges are not left behind during surgery. The Safety-Sponge System computerizes all sponge counts in an operating room. Since each individual sponge has a unique two-dimensional bar code, no one sponge can be counted twice and inadvertently create a false correct count. This essentially eliminates the root cause of retained sponges. The Safety Sponge System was the winner of the 2007 Cardinal Health Award for Supplier Innovation of Patient Safety Technology.
Buy and Sell Vehicles Online
Supermarket bulletin boards or the local auction have long been the way to sell used cars. Now the Arabic online marketplace Souq.com has launched Souq.com Motors. Residents of the UAE, Jordan and Saudi Arabia can use the site to buy and sell cars, motorbikes, boats and motoring accessories. The site features new trading formats in addition to simply auctioning an item. The “Souq Direct” option allows potential buyers to directly contact sellers. ‘Best Offer’ allows the seller to receive price-based offers from potential buyers, which can be accepted or declined.
A New Way to Find Hot Tracks
Surrge (www.surge.com) is a new social distribution network and music community that lets fans play a part in any given musical artist’s success. Through its repeatable distribution and referral models, Surrge helps artists build their distribution network and fanbase by rewarding existing fans for spreading the music. Surrge’s online community fosters relationships between artists, fans and music labels to present listeners with music that they would never have found before — or even known about.
BPM Basics for Dummies
Software AG, in conjunction with Wiley Publishing, has published “BPM Basics for Dummies: Software AG Special Edition.” Written by three Software AG executives, the book offers an introduction to Business Process Management (BPM). The book is designed to provide both business and IT stakeholders with a common understanding of BPM’s significant potential as a means for enabling more fruitful collaboration and better alignment between business objectives and IT resources. Download the book free from www.SoftwareAG.com/BPMforDummies.
Long Distance Contact
First there was the shirt that could send a hug. Now there’s the phone that can relay a kiss. Rumored to be already popular in Japan, the KissPhone allows its users to send or receive a kiss. The phone has artificial lips on one end of the handset for receiving the kiss and a receptor at the other end for sending the kiss. Georges Koussouros of ProInvention (www.proinvention.com), the creator of the KissPhone stated that the handset detects percussion speed, pressure, temperature and sucking force of the lips, when it’s kissed. Koussouros claims that the kiss can be saved on the phone so it can be experienced again.
