aren't waiting for a legislated solu-
tion.
"Maybe removing plume one day
will become the law of the land.
We can all hope that happens," she
says. "Meanwhile, we're still inhal-
ing surgical smoke. By the time a
law passes, we'll all be retired or
maybe have some sort of respirato-
ry illness. In the meantime, every
surgical facility can start a grass-
roots effort."
Ms. Fournier is dedicated to the
cause, determined to see the day
when surgeons use smoke-elimi-
nating devices and she can breathe
in the clear air of the OR. She's
even dreamt of doing something
dramatic to drive home the point
to surgeons who ignore the risk of
working in a hazardous environ-
ment full of toxic smoke. What if,
she wonders, all the techs and
nurses walked into the OR where a
surgeon was cauterizing and
coughed up a storm?
"That might not go over too
well," she says, "but nothing else
has worked."
OSM
6 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 8
Hopes are high that smoke
evacuation will one day
become the law of the land,
according to the 268
respondents of our recent
online poll.
Will smoke evacuation ever
be the law of the land?
yes ................................ 82%
no .................................. 18%
Mandatory
Smoke
Evacuation?
InstaPoll
O
S
M