Vol. XIII, No. 8Archive > August, 2012

It's Time to Go Smoke-Free

Everyone knows surgical plume is dangerous, so why isn't everyone evacuating it?

Daniel Cook, Executive Editor

Go Smoke-Free SMOKE AND MIRROR How can you justify endangering your staff every time an electrosurgery handpiece is activated?

The surgical smoke that lingers in your ORs doesn't just smell bad. It's carcinogenic. It carries minute particles of vaporized blood and tissue that may contain harmful bacteria and other infectious material. It causes respiratory problems in surgeons and staff members who breathe it in on a daily basis. And yet smoke evacuation devices aren't standard equipment in surgical facilities; a recent Outpatient Surgery Magazine online poll found that only 53% of surgical facilities typically use a smoke evacuator. Why is that? We recently gathered a panel of experts to find out.

 
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