O C T O B E R 2 0 1 7 O U T P A T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T 3 1
pedic surgeon, began to
understand what was at
stake, he asked why we
hadn't mandated smoke
evacuation years earlier,
back when the literature
about its importance
began to emerge.
Anesthesia providers tend
to be an easier sell. They're the ones, after all, who
have to deal with the smoke that's curling up over
the drapes and into their faces during surgery.
2
Involve your staff
We invited some industry reps to give the graphic presentations, which
really helped drive home the importance of protecting staff from the
dangers of surgical smoke. For example, one study found that the amount of
smoke generated daily in a plastic surgery OR is equivalent to that produced by
27 to 30 unfiltered cigarettes (osmag.net/xxaof8). How can you justify exposing
anyone in your facility to that?
As we rolled out the program, staff saw powerful slides that listed the danger-
ous chemicals contained in surgical smoke, and photos of severely damaged
lungs. They also heard about career OR nurses who'd developed chronic issues
as a result of all that exposure. Our people were a little freaked out by it all,
which was good. They said: Let's do this. In fact, why aren't we doing it today?
My staff, having seen the dynamic presentations, began talking to the doctors
about it, basically saying, Even if you don't think it's important and don't want
to do it for yourself or your patients, please do it for me. I'm in all these cases,
exposed to all this smoke. Their initiative was really effective in launching the
KICK THE HABIT There's no good reason
to forgo smoke evacuation, especially now
that more is known about the dangers of
long-term exposure.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
