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of. An overused filter provides no protection.
Staff should also always wear appropriate PPE when there's any chance of being exposed to surgical smoke. A fit-tested surgical N95 filtering face piece respirator or a high-filtration mask is the best choice. But masks should never be the only layer of protection against the dangers of surgical smoke.
Ms. Link (tlink @aorn.org) is an ambulatory education specialist and Ms. Ogg (mogg@aorn.org) is a perioperative nursing specialist with AORN.
