University of California San Francisco Medical Center Adopts SurgiCount Safety-Sponge System

DUBLIN, Ohio -- Cardinal Health, Inc., a leading provider of products and services supporting the healthcare industry, today announced that the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) MedicalCenter has signed an agreement to use SurgiCount Medical's Safety-Sponge(TM) System at its Mt.Zion and Parnassus hospitals, along with its ambulatory surgery center.

In 2006, Cardinal Health signed a national distribution agreement with SurgiCount Medical, a wholly owned subsidiary of Patient Safety Technologies, Inc., to make available its patented Safety Sponge(TM) System to hospitals and surgery centers across the country through its Presource® surgical kits and trays.

SurgiCount's patented computer-assisted counting process has a positive impact on the prevention of retained sponge incidents and patient safety. Working much like a grocery store checkout system, every surgical sponge and towel is pre-labeled by the manufacturer with an individual and unique bar- coded label, and a scanning counter is used to read and record the labels. No change is required in a hospital's established counting procedures: sponges are counted and recorded by the system at the beginning of the procedure and again as they are removed from the patient. It is the only computer-assisted system for counting sponges cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA.

"It is a privilege to partner with hospitals such as UCSF to support their efforts to improve patient safety in the operating room," said Brik Eyre, president of Cardinal Health's Presource® Products and Services business.

"We are very excited about bringing aboard the UCSFMedicalCenter, as UCSF was the first hospital to evaluate the SurgiCount Safety-Sponge System in late 2005. After evaluating other systems, UCSF believes that the Safety Sponge System provides an added layer of security that is in line with Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) standards for sponge counting," said Rick Bertran, president of SurgiCount Medical. "We are proud to be the chosen solution of such a renowned and respected institution."

Source: Cardinal Health, Inc.