CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – Some South Carolina medical professionals are advocating a ban on the use of devices that create surgical smoke in operating rooms.
Surgical smoke is a common chemical hazard that is produced by “bovies,” which are surgical devices that cut into tissue during operations. The Department of Veteran Affairs claims more than 90% of all surgeries create surgical smoke.
The smoke can release more than 150 carcinogenic and mutagenic chemicals into the air, affecting both medical professionals and patients in the operating room. The National Institutes of Health website reported one eight-hour shift in contact with surgical smoke is the same as smoking between 27 and 30 unfiltered cigarettes.
The issue has become more common to notice when nurses report symptoms of short-term exposure, but the problem can cause life-altering impacts.
“You can smell it as soon as you walk in,” Healthcare professional Samantha Tilghman said. “Respiratory issues they have never had before, headaches more often, vision concerns, blurry vision.”
Sherrie Mannarino has been a registered nurse for more than four decades. She said it is all too common to know colleagues who have been medically impacted by surgical smoke exposure. This includes respiratory issues, cancers and in vitro mutations or pregnancy complications.
Many of their diagnoses, she said, came as a surprise.
“She exercised, she ate well, she never smoked. And she passed away of stage four lung cancer. They attributed her diagnosis to the time she spent working in operator rooms,” Mannarino said.
Mannarino and Tilghman added the chemicals can pass through surgical masks, like N-95s, so it is not a guaranteed protector.
Lowcountry medical workers are advocating for legislation that bans the devices and replaces them with an altered device, which has a smoke-evacuation feature. 18 states have implemented the devices into law.
The new devices have an evacuator tube right next to the entry point for surgery, meaning it creates a smoke outlet as close to the source as possible.
Some have shown hesitation in changing the devices because older test versions were noisy and the new devices were more costly.
An original “bovie” pencil costs around $8, while a new one would be $20. Tilghman claimed the cost would come out of contract and a cost to the patient, not the hospital.
Nurse lawyer and registered nurse Kim Tuemler is a member of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses.
Her passion for the project comes from the knowledge that the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has warned of surgical smoke hazards since 1996, but there is still no legislation in the Palmetto State to mandate it.
“Nurses are dying. It takes years to get cancer. Nobody should get cancer in their workplace because we can evacuate the smoke,” Tuelmer said. “It’s a minuscule cost to evacuate smoke in an operating room, and everyone can be healthy in there. Everyone needs to be protected.”
Several hospitals in the Lowcountry either are or have advocated for “smoke-free” operating rooms and campuses.
The biggest challenge for the group has been education.
To learn more about surgical smoke and get in contact with those advocating for legislation, Kim Tuemler can be reached here.
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Lowcountry nurses push to ban devices creating surgical smoke
