Stryker’s acquisition of Patient Safety Technologies was a small tuck-in for a company with $8.7 billion in revenues, and the acquired product somewhat mundane. Patient Safety Technologies’ subsidiary SurgiCount Medical Inc. makes a surgical sponge counting system to make sure surgeons don’t leave sponges inside patients by mistake, but the small size of the deal belies its importance as an example of how medical device companies must change to meet the demands of our changing health care system.

Start-ups developing technologies to help hospitals avoid preventable medical errors known as “never events” are developing solutions to nosocomial infections, retained surgical objects, pressure ulcers, and medication errors.

New federal initiatives to improve patient safety are taking direct aim at hospitals' bottom line by making them bear the increased costs of treatment when patients acquire a condition deemed reasonably preventable. At this year's meeting of the Association of Operating Room Nurses, companies showcased new technologies designed to help hospitals avoid so-called "never events" like leaving objects in a patient after surgery, pressure ulcers acquired during a patient's stay, and certain nosocomial infections.

Brief summaries of recent product and company developments in the device industry, including Aspect Medical's brain monitoring technology, Warburg's bid for Bausch & Lomb, and Frazier Healthcare Venture's investment in publicly-traded Endocare.