Operating Room Fires Anesthesiology

Operating room fires are rare but devastating events.

Operating room fires anesthesiology.

Apfelbaum jl caplan ra barker sj et al. With the assistance of ecri institute apsf has produced an 18 minute long video prevention and management of operating room fires which was released in february 2010. For the prevention and management of surgical fires. Despite the safety guidelines that are currently in place at most hospitals or fires still occur anywhere from 50 200 times per year.

According to the anesthesia patient safety foundation hundreds of fires occur in the united states yearly 1the majority of fires occur during head and neck surgery due to the presence of oxygen and the extensive use of lasers 2surgical fires can be prevented by educating staff about risk and prevention strategies. Most 85 electrocautery fires occurred during head neck or upper chest procedures high fire risk procedures. A closed claims analysis. Operating room or fire is considered a sentinel event in today s practice of medicine.

Most electrocautery induced fires n 75 81 occurred during monitored anesthesia care. This simulation involved a 52 year old man presenting for excisional biopsy of a cervical lymph node to be performed under sedation. An updated report by the american society of anesthesiologists task force on operating room fires. Prevention and effective management of such fires may present difficulties even for experienced or staff.

Practice advisory for the prevention and management of operating room fires. Oxygen served as the oxidizer in 95 of electrocautery induced or fires 84 with open delivery system. The intended audience is everyone who works in the or during surgery. 1 from the departments of surgery t s j t n r e l j anesthesiology i h b the university of colorado and the denver veterans affairs medical center denver colorado.

A report by the american society of anesthesiologists task force on operating room fires adopted by the asa in 2007 and published in 2008. Operating room or fire can be a devastating and costly event to patients and health care providers. A review of operating room fire claims found that 85 of fires occurred in the head neck or upper chest and 81 of cases occurred with monitored anesthesia care. Recent literature suggests that there is poor communication and preparedness of the or staff for such events.

This document updates the practice advisory for preven tion and management of operating room fires. 4 these fires are typically attributed to increases in oxygen content at the surgical site.