System and method for managing surgical articles during a surgical procedure

A method of managing an inventory of surgical sponges used during a surgical procedure to ensure proper removal of surgical sponges following the surgical procedure, the method comprising:

• providing a supply of surgical sponges, the supply comprising a first package containing a first surgical sponge of a first sponge type, wherein the first surgical sponge comprises a first RFID tag, the first RFID tag storing a first unique identifier associated with the first surgical sponge, first package content information, and a first assigned power level associated with the first sponge type, wherein the first package content information corresponds to a complete content of the first package;
• operating an RFID reader at a first power level for a first limited period of time to read RFID tags of the inventory of surgical sponges;
• collecting a first response set during the first limited period of time;
• determining that the first response set matches the first package content information such that all surgical sponges within the first package are present in the first response set and that the first power level matches the first assigned power level;
• and
• identifying the first surgical sponge as counted-in in a database record for the surgical procedure responsive to determining that the first response set matches the first package content information and the first power level matches the first assigned power level.

A system for managing a supply of surgical articles used during a surgical procedure to ensure proper removal of the surgical articles following the surgical procedure, the supply comprising a first package containing a first surgical article of a first article type, wherein the first surgical article comprises a first RFID tag, the first RFID tag storing a first unique identifier associated with the first surgical article, first package content information, and a first assigned power level associated with the first article type, and wherein the first package content information corresponds to a complete content of the first package, the system comprising:

• an RFID reader configurable to operate at one of a plurality of power levels in response to receiving a power level parameter in response to an RFID read operation;
• and
• a database configured to store data representing a status of the supply of surgical articles identifying a counted-in quantity and a counted-out quantity,
• wherein the RFID reader is configured to:
• operate at a first power level for a first limited period of time to read RFID tags of the supply of surgical articles;
• collect a first response set during the first limited period of time;
• evaluate the first response set to determine whether the first response set matches the first package content information such that all surgical articles within the first package are present in the first response set and to determine whether the first power level matches the first assigned power level associated with the first article type;
• and
• identify the first surgical article as counted-in in a database record for the surgical procedure responsive to determining that the first response set matches the first package content information and that the first power level matches the first assigned power level associated with the first article type.