Operating Room Fires Anesthesiology

A closed claims analysis.

Operating room fires anesthesiology. 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. For the prevention and management of surgical fires. Most 85 electrocautery fires occurred during head neck or upper chest procedures high fire risk procedures. 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.

Practice advisory for the prevention and management of operating room fires. The intended audience is everyone who works in the or during surgery. 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. 4 these fires are typically attributed to increases in oxygen content at the surgical site.

Operating room or fire is considered a sentinel event in today s practice of medicine. Prevention and effective management of such fires may present difficulties even for experienced or staff. This document updates the practice advisory for preven tion and management of operating room fires. Recent literature suggests that there is poor communication and preparedness of the or staff for such events.

Operating room fires are rare but devastating events. Apfelbaum jl caplan ra barker sj et al. Oxygen served as the oxidizer in 95 of electrocautery induced or fires 84 with open delivery system. Despite the safety guidelines that are currently in place at most hospitals or fires still occur anywhere from 50 200 times per year.

An updated report by the american society of anesthesiologists task force on operating room fires. Operating room or fire can be a devastating and costly event to patients and health care providers. Mehta sp bhananker sm posner kl domino kb. Prevention and management of operating room fires video.

This simulation involved a 52 year old man presenting for excisional biopsy of a cervical lymph node to be performed under sedation. Most electrocautery induced fires n 75 81 occurred during monitored anesthesia care.