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California Firm's Sponge Safety System In Place At UM Health

SurgiCount Medical, the operating subsidiary of Irvine, Calif.-based Patient Safety Technologies, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: PSTX), announced the successful implementation of the Safety-Sponge System at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor. 

The Safety-Sponge System is a proven solution to prevent one of the most common surgical errors, retained surgical sponges.

With nearly 900 beds across three hospitals, UM Health System has over 43,000 patient admissions, and performs over 45,000 surgical procedures on inpatients and outpatients across a broad range of specialties.

"We are proud to include the University of Michigan Health System to the growing list of users of the Safety-Sponge System and believe adding an institution of this caliber further validates the benefits and advantages of the solution," said Patient Safety Technologies president and CEO Brian E. Stewart. "We look forward to supporting them in their ongoing effort to deliver excellence in patient care."

Added Shawn Murpphy, operating room director at UMHS: "We have implemented the SurgiCount System to provide an added safety mechanism to the long-established practice of a manual sponge-counting process in our operating rooms. The SurgiCount technology provides the protection of identifying and counting each sponge used during a surgical procedure and also helps to support a standard practice for counting sponges that improves our ability to deliver safer care for our patients."

More at www.surgicountmedical.com or www.med.umich.edu.

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