impacted by surgical
smoke.
"With so many factors
involved," she says, "you
have to push to make
sure your cause is seen
and taken seriously by
everyone involved."
Ms. McNulty suggests
looking ahead on the
surgical schedule for
cases that will involve
electrocautery or laser
devices and conferring
with circulating nurses
to see if they plan on
having discussions
about using smoke evac-
uators with the sur-
geons, who must be
comfortable with
devices before they
agree to implement
them.
That's why a key part of smoke exposure prevention is having staff
and surgeons trial the different types of evacuators available to see
which ones they like best and, just as importantly, which ones they
don't feel comfortable using. Ease of set-up between cases is impor-
tant, but it's often the surgeons who decide which product ultimately
gets used, according to Ms. Zhou. "Their concerns often center on the
D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 4 1
• SURGERY SMOG Plumes produced during surgery contain more than 135
chemicals and 17 known carcinogens.
