System and method for tracking surgical assets

Abstract

Systems and methods for identifying sterilized medical devices located within a sealed sterilization case (1) in preparation for a surgical procedure with a reader and radio frequency identification tags (5) attached or associated with the medical devices.

Description

[0001] Related Application Cross Reference [0002] This application claims the benefit of US Provisional Application No. 60 / 632679, filed December 2, 2004, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. technical field [0003] Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods for identifying sterilized medical equipment located within a sterilized case sealed with packaging in preparation for a surgical procedure. Background technique [0004] Hospitals, instrument management companies, and sterilization companies often struggle to track and manage surgical instruments as they pass through multiple parties in the supply chain. For example, instruments are sometimes misplaced, which may not be noticed until the instrument is removed from the sterile box and unpacked in the sterile field of the operating room prior to surgery. If one or more of the instruments needed for the procedure is missing, another sealed plastic package must be opened to...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Therefore, the RFID reader cannot communicate with the RFID tags inside the sterilization case, and the instruments must be removed from the case, including opening the sealed packaging, before the reader can determine the inventory of a particular instrument group

Images