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S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | O C T O B E R 2 0 1 4
According to the National Institute
of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH),
surgical smoke should be evacuated and filtered _________.
a.
whenever it is produced
b.
when HIV/HPV is suspected in the patient
c.
when room suction is not working
d.
whenever the surgeon feels it is necessary
Answer:
a
If there's one document you should always have on hand, it's NIOSH's Control
of Smoke From Laser/Electric Surgical Procedures (
tinyurl.com/qb9uhv8
). The
organization's alert recommends that whenever smoke is produced, it needs to
be evacuated and filtered.
A smoke evacuator contains a suction unit, filter, hose and inlet nozzle. It
should have high efficiency in airborne particle reduction and is recommended
to have a capture velocity of about 100 to 150 feet per minute. Room suction
systems often pull at a much lower rate. It's generally agreed that smoke evacu-
ators are more effective.
Smoke generated during laparoscopy that
is absorbed by the patient can elevate certain
variants of normal hemoglobin. What can this cause?
a.
changes in the patient's level of anesthesia
b.
difficulties in achieving hemostasis in the patient
c.
falsely elevated blood pressure readings
d.
falsely elevated pulse oximeter readings
S U R G I C A L S M O K E
