Spongescan Squarepants

By Margaret Hicks in News on Dec 6, 2007 5:59PM

There are good ideas and there are great ideas. Doctors at Loyola University Medical Center have devised a way to make sure surgical sponges don’t get lost in people anymore. Hooray for medical technology! They’re going to put bar codes on the sponges, and a nurse will scan the sponge before it goes in and the system will tell the nurse if any sponges have been left inside.

That all seems a little too complicated. Why don’t they just put little speakers on the sponges like they put in greeting cards -- you know -- the ones that play music? Heck, you’d know right away if you left something where it shouldn’t be.

You could do um…”Don’t Leave Me This Way”, or “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” or, “Up In Here.” But sure, we guess barcodes could work too, just doesn't seem as fun.