It's not difficult to find healthcare workers who are surprised to
learn about the hazards of surgical smoke. You see a lot of young peo-
ple working in ORs, after all, and they may not have been exposed to
the education, or the long-term effects, that long-term employees
have. And if you've been breathing in surgical smoke for a long
enough time, you might not realize the cumulative toll that the
unpleasant scent you've learned to endure has taken on your respira-
tory health.
But it's unimaginable that any healthcare worker who's been told
what we know about surgical smoke wouldn't be concerned about its
hazards. Besides the charred-flesh odor, we're also facing toxic gases,
some of them carcinogenic. Inhaling the smoke from 1 gram of
burned tissue has been equated to smoking 6 unfiltered cigarettes in
15 minutes. The smoke has the potential to carry and transmit infec-
tious bacteria and viral DNA. This particulate matter ends up in our
8 0 • 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 6
The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) is set to launch a surgical smoke-
free recognition program called "Go Clear" (osmag.net/hWYNy7). Facilities that achieve a sur-
gical smoke-free environment can earn a designation that certifies their commitment to employ-
ee and patient safety. The Go Clear campaign, sponsored by Medtronic through the AORN
Foundation, is scheduled to launch late this summer and run for 3 years.
"What we're doing is a national collaboration, an incentive to follow the recommended prac-
tices and guidelines," says Brenda Ulmer, RN, MN, CNOR, a healthcare consultant and surgical
smoke safety educator from Snellville, Ga., who worked with AORN to develop the program.
By providing facilities with the tools to analyze gaps in their practices, develop policies and
conduct education, AORN hopes to help administrators, physicians and staff to "make evidence-
based decisions instead of just having a vague knowledge and understanding," she says.
— David Bernard
SURGICAL SMOKEOUT
"Go Clear" With AORN's Smoke Safety Initiative