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Showing results for tags 'Health hazards'.
Found 35 results
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Content ArticleFor over three decades, patients, consultants and perioperative staff have been exposed to diathermy tissue smoke in all operating hospital theatres. This smoke is called plaque and, when inhaled, is the same as smoking cigarettes. Research shows that inhalation of smoke from one gram of cauterised tissue is equal to smoking six cigarettes. This smoke is also cancerous and can mutate to other organs of the body just like cigarettes. Read my personal view of the harmful effects of diathermy smoke published in the Journal of Perioperative Practice, and also watch the short video kindly made for me by Knowlex UK.
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Content Article
Electrosurgery. Managing the risk (September 2004)
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Surgery
This poster from the National Association of Theatre Nurses (ATN) aims to give an overview of electrosurgery in the perioperative setting. It identifies and defines some of the common forms of electrosurgery used in perioperative practice and identifies some of the hazards that can be associated with these products. -
Content ArticleFollowing a reported death, the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) commissioned the Health and Safety Executive to undertake fire hazard testing with white soft paraffin on a variety of bandages, dressings and clothing. The results showed the ability to reproduce the fire hazard in a controlled environment. This risk was not previously well recognised.
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Content ArticleOperating theatre fires remain an uncommon but real safety risk for patients undergoing nearly all types of procedures, and despite ongoing safety initiatives, occur more commonly than wrong-site surgeries. One of the most compelling cases for safety improvement in the surgical setting is within this area. Combining the simple steps of operating theatre team education; improving lines of communication between surgeons, anaesthetists, and operating theatre nurses or practitioners; and the deliberate separation of the elements of the fire triangle can almost completely eliminate the incidence of surgical fires. In this brief review, Cowles Jr and Culp Jr hope that readers will be able to reduce the risk of surgical fires effectively by the application of the safety principles described.
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Content ArticleA surgical fire is potentially devastating for a patient. Fire has been recognised as a potential complication of surgery for many years. Surgical fires continue to happen with alarming frequency. Yardley and Donaldson present a review of the literature and an examination of possible solutions to this problem.
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Content ArticleIn January 2017, I read an article in Outpatient Surgery involving an elderly patient in the US who suffered multiple burns following the use of chlorohexidine bottled alcoholic prep. The Oregon woman filed a million-dollar lawsuit against the Oregon Outpatient Surgery Center in Tigard, Ore., saying she suffered severe burns when her face caught on fire during an electrocautery procedure. Having read this tragic story and escalated it to my theatre manager and colleagues, I decided to design and evaluate a FRAS (Fire Risk Assessment Score) and use it as part of the WHO Surgical Checklist at "time out" to raise awareness of fires in operating theatres.
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Content ArticleThis blog from the PatientSafe Network discusses cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance — the pain of accepting ego-dystonic facts — mitigates against an open, rational aggressive cycle of process improvement. Unfortunately the hierarchical structures in healthcare mean we are likely to suffer from this. Those further up, best positioned to bring about positive change, are the most likely to suffer cognitive dissonance.
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Content ArticleSmoking or a naked flame could cause patients’ dressings or clothing to catch fire when being treated with paraffin-based emollient that is in contact with the dressing or clothing. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) provided this update for healthcare professionals.
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Content ArticleA collection of resources from NHS Improvement to help you analyse, understand and improve the health and well-being of your workforce. Based on NHS Improvements's learning from the Improving Health and Well-being direct support programme, they have developed and collated some resources which will assist analysis of your quantitative and qualitative workforce data to drive and enable development of impactful evidence-based workforce health and well-being interventions.
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Content ArticleThis action plan from the Ipswich & East Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group and West Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Group follows on from an infection control norovirus outbreak.
