Retrospective chart review identifies procedural risk factors for surgical count discrepancies, highlighting key targets for preventing retained surgical items.
Background: The surgical count is an important part of the surgical procedure and helps to prevent retained surgical items. This retrospective chart review examines risk factors for count discrepancies. Methods: We reviewed count documentation of surgical procedures (n=92,571) for 5 years between January 2019 and December 2023 at an academic medical center. Results: There was a notable higher percentage of cases with incorrect counts when the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) classification is 4 or 5, more than one primary surgeon, 2 or more assisting surgeons, 4 or 5 circulating nurses, 3 or more scrub persons, longer OR time, and cases classified as add-on/urgent/emergent. Conclusions: Findings may assist leaders in developing strategies to mitigate risk factors for a count discrepancy.
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Porcari et al. (2026) studied this question.
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