Abstract
BackgroundAt the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, new recommendations to evacuate surgical smoke were made due to unknown viral hazards. We evaluated perioperative registered nurses’ and surgical technicians/technologists’ knowledge of surgical smoke and determined smoke evacuation practices before and after the onset of COVID. MethodsAn electronic survey was developed, validated, and distributed nationally. Means and percentages were used for analysis of descriptive data. For comparison analyses, repeated measures were conducted on continuous variables with paired t-tests and mixed factor ANOVAs. ResultsWe found gaps in knowledge regarding surgical smoke hazards, low evacuation device usage, lack of smoke evacuation policies, and little to no air quality or exposure monitoring in ORs. Smoke evacuation practices did not change significantly following the onset of COVID-19. ConclusionsImplications for leadership, education, and research may provide perioperative personnel with improved work environments without surgical smoke hazards.
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