them at shorter-term exposure to
the byproducts of surgical ener-
gies in comparison to full-time OR
personnel, and as a result it may
limit their experience with its
effects.
As everyone knows, physicians
are data-driven. So be sure to search the medical literature for the lat-
est findings on the contents and dangers of smoke before making a
case to justify the purchase and use of evacuation technology to them.
There's always new information out there, and the evidence base is
continually growing.
An awareness of smoke's impact on occupational health is also
instrumental in helping physicians understand the need for safer prac-
tices, but here we encounter a challenge. While there's no shortage of
anecdotal evidence from nurses in the field — people who've left jobs,
require asthma medications or other situations due to prolonged
exposure to smoke — we don't have research confirming a cause-and-
effect relationship. We inhale smoke, we suffer respiratory ailments,
but spread out over time it's difficult to establish a connection, as we
have with cigarette smoking. Without a randomized control study,
there's no scientific certainty.
On the day-to-day level, perhaps the biggest obstacle to consistent
compliance with a smoke evacuation protocol is the front line staff
not speaking up when they should be. Even if they know the hazards
that smoke poses, they may tolerate the unpleasantness because they
feel powerless against the surgeon who is running the room. But they
need to be able to say, "I don't want to breathe the smoke. It may not
bother you, but we're at risk here." Give your employees the power to
put protection into practice.
OSM
A P R I L 2 0 1 6 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 8 5
• SUCTION ACTION Equip every OR in which smoke is generated with evacua-
tion technology, and make sure it gets used.
