6 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • A P R I L 2 0 1 9
I
f you've worked
in an OR, you
know the horror
stories about sur-
gical smoke. It
could be the surgeon
who never touched a cig-
arette suddenly develop-
ing lung cancer, the nurse
who can't seem to stop
coughing or the OR tech
diagnosed with asthma in
adulthood.
We've known about the
dangers of surgical
smoke for decades. Last
year, in our home state of
Rhode Island, we decided
to do something about it.
In June, the nation's
smallest state made a bit
of history when we passed the first law making smoke evacuation
mandatory. Starting this month, all the hospitals and surgery centers
in our state need to have policies on the books to protect their work-
ers from the chemicals, carcinogens, viruses and bacteria that come
Fired Up Over Mandatory
Smoke Evacuation Laws
Will more states require the use of
surgical plume evacuation systems?
Donna Policastro, RNP, and Julie Greenhalgh, RN, BSN, CNOR
• CLEAN AIR Raising awareness of the dangers of surgical smoke — and the
ease with which it can be evacuated — is critical to lobbying for mandatory
smoke evacuation legislation.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
