is frustrated by her state's inaction, but thrilled for her peers in Rhode
Island. "I'm so happy for them," she says. "Hopefully it's the start of a
bigger movement."
Instead of waiting for lawmakers to mandate a smoke-free environ-
ment, Ms. Fujhara has taken matters into her own hands. She launched
a campaign aimed at educating her staff and surgeons about the dan-
gers of surgical smoke, even hanging signs above scrub sinks about the
carcinogens found in surgical smoke. Ms. Fujhara also led the trial of
several evacuation devices. She gathered samples of every smoke
evacuator on the market and put the devices in a basket in the sur-
geons' lounge so the docs could familiarize themselves with the
options and let her know which model they liked best. (It's no surprise
they preferred one with an ergonomic feel and integrated pencil design
J u l y 2 0 1 8 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 4 7
To your OR staff
Do No
Harm
The OR should be a place of healing.
But in the presence of surgical smoke,
it can be a harmful environment to the
staff who breathe the equivalent of
27 to 30 cigarettes a day
1
.
Discover the impact of surgical smoke at EndSurgicalSmoke.org
1
Hill, D.S. et. Al., Surgical Smoke – A health hazard in the operating theatre. A study to quantify exposure and a survey of smoke extractor
systems in UK plastic surgery units. Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgery 2012. doi:10.1016/j.bjps.2012.02.012
