Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.
Issue link: http://outpatientsurgery.uberflip.com/i/459853
Ever hear of reactive airway disease? Bonnie Weinberg, MSN, RN, CNOR, clinical practice specialist for the operating room at The Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, N.J., says that a couple years ago, a surgeon at her hospital complained of wheezing and some respiratory difficulty. He visited a pulmonologist, who told him that he had reactive airway dis- ease caused by something in his environment — which the surgeon attributed to surgical smoke — and put him on an inhaler. Other nurses also told Ms. Weinberg that they dreaded scrubbing in because of the headaches and nasal congestion they would get after breathing in the smoke. The hospital decided to make the move to smoke-free ORs, spearheaded by the affected surgeon. "I said, 'Our campus is a smoke- free environment, so why aren't our ORs smoke-free?'" says Ms. Weinberg. The surgeon worked with the other doctors in the facility to get them on board, and the hospital trialed several different plume evacuation pens. Ms. Weinberg says she also sat down with staff to explain the implications of surgical smoke and worked with the vendor of the pens to place posters around the facility reminding staff and surgeons about the importance of evacuating surgical smoke. A year has passed since the hospital began using the evacuators, and the surgeon tells Ms. Weinberg that he now "rarely has to use his inhaler." What's in it? Researchers are still working to find a direct link between surgical smoke and long-term health effects, but that doesn't mean facility leaders are any less concerned. One survey respondent says she's con- cerned about "the potential for long-term effects that may be insidious in nature." "I'm sure it can't be healthy to be inhaling the plume of smoke coming from using the cautery," adds another. "I am concerned about the toxins, viruses and bacteria that can be present in surgical smoke and the long-term effects that staff can develop with repeated exposure," says Imelda Kelly, RN, CNOR, direc- 5 6 O U T PAT 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 | February 2015