A.G. Gancarski
A measure protecting medical professionals from surgical smoke found clear air in Tuesday’s Senate Health Policy Committee.
And professional nurses made the case that it’s literally a matter of life and death for medical practitioners and patients alike.
Sen. Tracie Davis‘ SB 152 proposes requiring smoke evacuation systems to be used by the beginning of next year by any medical facility likely to “generate the gaseous byproduct” produced by lasers and electrosurgical devices.
The potential contaminants to be filtered include “surgical plume, smoke plume, bio-aerosols, laser-generated airborne contaminants, and lung-damaging dust.”
Davis, a Democrat from Jacksonville, noted that the bill would apply to hospitals and surgical centers. She said surgical teams are often exposed to harmful chemicals and bacteria, constituting a “workplace hazard and a patient safety risk.”
Soon enough, nurses confirmed her read.
Meghan Moroney of the Florida Nurses Association expressed her organization’s “unwavering support” for Davis’ bill and expressed gratitude for her role as a “champion” for Florida’s more than 400,000 nurses who deal with hazards created by “smoke from burning flesh.”
Moroney said 90% of surgeries create this smoke, and the daily hazard incurred by nurses is equivalent to a pack of unfiltered cigarettes every day.
Eva Lim, also of the FNA, explained further the hazards of surgical smoke that carries “cancer, virus, blood” and “150 hazardous chemicals” via the activated surgical pencil.
“These are carcinogenic,” Lim said, adding that “surgical masks we use don’t seal tightly to our face” and that small particles permeate the porous barrier.
“There’s nothing that’s protecting us, the caregiver,” Lim added.
A retired nurse, Sandra Falk, noted that her former colleagues encounter up to 12 hours of exposure in any shift, creating respiratory problems that double the incidence rate in the general population.
Falk’s eyelids have scar tissue, and her eye doctor does not rule out surgical smoke as a cause.
Falk added that a total of 18 states already have laws similar to what Davis wants, and others are expected to follow this year.
