Award
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality 5R18HS029637-03
Retained Foreign Object Reduction and Mitigation (ReFORM)
Recipient
Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC
Award Amount
$494,467.00
Ceiling
$494,467.00
Awarded
September 23, 2025
Identifier
5R18HS029637-03
This award funds a project to reduce retained foreign objects in surgery by using systems engineering to understand and improve surgical count protocols and teamwork factors, enhancing patient safety.
Description
Retained Foreign Objects (RFOs) are a significant patient safety issue, with an estimated 3,000 to 50,000 cases annually and an 80% morbidity rate. The ReFORM patient safety learning laboratory aims to explore the causes and solutions to RFOs using systems engineering. The project will develop models to understand factors influencing surgical counts, conduct experiments on count grouping under various conditions, and explore organizational and teamwork factors to improve safety protocols.