Is your staff protected from the potentially harmful effects of surgical smoke? Even if you’ve installed the necessary ventilation systems and purchased smoke evacuators, those devices are useless if your surgical team doesn’t understand the importance of using them.
To drive the message home, Kay Ball, RN, MSA, CNOR, FAAN, chairwoman of AORN’s Smoke Evacuation Task Force, recommends that you point out three things to skeptical surgeons and staff:
Surgical smoke is dangerous. To lend heft to this argument, consult AORN’s Position Statement of Surgical Smoke and Bio-aerosols and educate your surgeons and staff about the dangerous particles contained in electrosurgery plume and the hazards of regular exposure to them.
Evacuating smoke is easy. Make sure everyone knows how to use the evacuation equipment you have, and reassure your surgeons that evacuating smoke will not interfere with the surgical procedure.
It’s the law. Remind your staff of the facility’s legal obligation to provide a safe environment for its employees. Your day-to-day, frontline workers are most vulnerable to the harmful effects of surgical smoke.
See Ms. Ball’s article in Outpatient Surgery Magazine’s "Employee Safety Guide" for more advice on how to educate your surgical teams about the importance of smoke evacuation.
—Irene Tsikitas
