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iCount: a human-factors engineered solution to vaginal swab retention – an early-stage innovation report
Elgharably, Ahmed Nader Desai, Kiran Vance, Aaron Lester, Jon Bonfiglio, Emma Rigby, Colin Forrester, Andrew Ogrodnik, Peter Faint, Jeffrey
Elgharably, Ahmed Nader
Desai, Kiran
Vance, Aaron
Lester, Jon
Bonfiglio, Emma
Rigby, Colin
Forrester, Andrew
Ogrodnik, Peter
Faint, Jeffrey
Editors
Other contributors
Affiliation
Epub Date
Issue Date
2024-08-30
Submitted date
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Alternative
Abstract
WHAT ARE THE NEW FINDINGS
Despite established policies and procedures when swab counting, issues such as distraction, confirmation bias, competing task priorities and changes in swab appearance contribute to swab miscounts and therefore swab retention.
Cases of count discrepancies/miscounts are under-reported, and their impact extends to patient’s health, clinician’s time and trust’s reputation and finances.
iCount is a low-cost device designed and developed with human factors-ergonomics principles. It is a docking system that behaves as a physical checklist when swab counting and facilitates conscious engagement using visual and tactile cues when counting.
Users believe iCount to be a viable alternative to manual two-person swab counting with greater time efficiency and perceived safety. This could be valuable in emergency maternity situations.
HOW MIGHT IT IMPACT ON HEALTHCARE IN THE FUTURE
iCount has the potential to reduce or prevent retained swabs after vaginal deliveries along with appropriate policies, training and teamwork.
Additional clinical research and widespread adoption would be needed to validate this effectively.
Citation
Elgharably AN, Desai K, Nevill AM, et aliCount: a human-factors engineered solution to vaginal swab retention – an early-stage innovation report. BMJ Innovations. doi: 10.1136/bmjinnov-2024-001248
Publisher
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PubMed ID
PubMed Central ID
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Type
Journal article
Language
en
Description
© 2024 The Authors. Published by BMJ. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjinnov-2024-001248
Series/Report no.
ISSN
2055-8074
EISSN
2055-642X
ISBN
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Sponsors
This study was funded by Innovate UK10033555.