Archive > Abdominal Surgery 2011

5 Steps to Safer Electrosurgery

Expert advice on protecting patients from the stray currents that can cause surgical burns.

Charlene DiNobile, RN, MEd, CNOR, CNAA, CST

Just because electrosurgery is routine doesn't mean its safety should be taken for granted. Complacency with the setup and handling of cutting and coagulating devices will get patients burned, or worse, killed. When the start of an OR fire is only a spark away, follow these 5 steps to keep your patients safe.

 
Have an account? Please sign in:
Email Address:
Password:
Categories:

Keywords:

1. Never assume that your staff knows all there is to know; 2. Understand burn risks; 3. Insulate and inspect; 4. Avoid these common mistakes; 5. Fight fire with prevention; Clean; Complacency; Designate; Don't; Fight; Follow; IV; Inspect; Insulate; Insulation; Make; ORs; Quarterly; Surgery; Understand; Velcro; acquire; activation; active; adhere; adjacent; alarm; alcohol-based; alert; assume; avoid; avoiding; body; breakdown; brilliant; built; burn; burning; burns; capacitive; carefully; carts; case; catch; caused; causing; challenging; charred; clamp; cleanliness; clip; coagulate; coagulatin... show all keywords
1. Never assume that your staff knows all there is to know; 2. Understand burn risks; 3. Insulate and inspect; 4. Avoid these common mistakes; 5. Fight fire with prevention; Clean; Complacency; Designate; Don't; Fight; Follow; IV; Inspect; Insulate; Insulation; Make; ORs; Quarterly; Surgery; Understand; Velcro; acquire; activation; active; adhere; adjacent; alarm; alcohol-based; alert; assume; avoid; avoiding; body; breakdown; brilliant; built; burn; burning; burns; capacitive; carefully; carts; case; catch; caused; causing; challenging; charred; clamp; cleanliness; clip; coagulate; coagulating; combination; common; company's; completely; conduct; conductors; contact; cord; cords; correct; cotton; coupling; courses; covered; current; cut; cutting; daily; damage; debriefing; debris; decisions; defect; designed; device; device's; devices; difficult; direct; directions; disaster; doesn't; drape; drills; dry; drying; due; effectively; electric; electrical; electrode; electrode-monitoring; electrodes; electrosurgery; electrosurgical; emergency; employing; end; ensure; equipment's; escape; excellent; expect; experienced; experts; facility's; factor; familiar; fasteners; fill; fire; flammable; follow; frequent; fresh; fuel; gas; gown; hair; handle; handling; haphazardly; harm; hear; heat; holding; holster; hot; ignite; ignition; implants; in-depth; in-services; injuries; injury; inspect; inspecting; instrument; instrument's; instrumentation; instruments; insulated; insulation; integrity; intent; involve; it's; item; laparoscopic; lead; learn; letter; letting; loops; loud; made; makes; mandatory; materials; member; metal; microscopic; minimize; minute; mock; monitor; monitoring; nature; nearby; newly; noisy; object; observe; occur; operate; operational; order; original; overuse; packaged; parts; passing; patient; patient's; patients; periodic; personnel; piece; place; plan; plastic; pooling; positioning; post-surgical; potential; potentially; power; practices; predict; prepping; preps; prevent; processing; proper; prove; purchasing; quality; quickly; readied; readily; recommendations; refresher; regular; remain; repeated; repeating; resulting; reusable; routine; rundown; safety; saturation; scanner; securely; serve; set; setup; severity; shut-off; signal; simply; skin; smart; source; spark; speed; spreading; staff; standards; start; steps; stray; suffer; sufficient; surgeon; surgical; tables; teaching; team; times; tip; tissue; towel; training; type; uninsulated; unintentional; unintentionally; unit; unnoticed; user; valves; vigilant; visually; volatile; work; working; wrong; —

DID YOU SEE THIS?
Sharps and Sharps Safety

This Safety Blade will Wow Your Surgeons

http://ad.doubleclick.net/ad/N884.126151.OUTPATIENTSURGERY.NE/B7375920;sz=300x250;ord=[timestamp]?

Other Articles That May Interest You

Getting the Big Picture on HD

Experts answer your most commonly asked questions about high-res surgical video.

Ideas That Work

Dilate difficult veins - Grab-and-go GI carts - Who's your fire captain?

Was Sacked Surgeon Safety Conscious or Money Hungry?

Mitchell Magid, DMD, filed whistleblower lawsuit after being canned from lucrative post.