Surgical instrument inventory database management system

摘要

Surgical instruments (614) are marked with a symbol (120) encoding a unique numerical value associated with each instrument, this value being used as a pointer into an automated database forming part of a comprehensive inventory management system (600). The symbols on the instruments may be referenced for various purposes, including pre- and post-operative tracking, automatic flagging for routine maintenance (fig. 4) or disposal (fig. 5), packing list verification (fig. 6), and so forth. Preferably the symbols are engraved onto the surface of each instrument using a pattern of the type which may be accurately read even from the curved or non-planar surfaces typically found on such instruments.