Drugs
About the Preventing Surgical Fires Initiative
Background
Surgical fires are preventable medical errors. To reduce the risk of fires, many healthcare organizations have developed tools, implemented strategies, and conducted education and outreach efforts. Yet there is more that can be done.
The FDA has a role in preventing surgical fires. FDA regulates the drugs (e.g. oxygen, skin preparation agents) and devices (e.g. ESUs, lasers and surgical drapes) that are components of the fire triangle and reviews product labeling to ensure that appropriate warnings about the risk of fire are included. However, the FDA’s regulatory authorities alone over the elements of the fire triangle alone are not sufficient to prevent these accidents.
The FDA is also committed to collaborating with relevant public and private partners to optimize the safe use of the products the agency regulates as part of its Safe Use Initiative. Under the Safe Use Initiative,the FDA convened a meeting with representatives from a variety of healthcare organizations to discuss ways to collaborate to prevent surgical fires. This meeting was an initial step in identifying barriers to safe practices, with the ultimate goal to engage all partners in developing specific, tangible interventions to reduce surgical fires.
As a result of these discussions and follow-up activities, the FDA and its partners launched the “Preventing Surgical Fires” initiative to increase awareness of the risks of surgical fires and promote the adoption of risk reduction practices throughout the healthcare community.
Initial launch Activities: October 13, 2011
- FDA Safety Communication: Preventing Surgical Fires
- Preventing Surgical Fires website at www.fda.gov/preventingsurgicalfires
- FDA Videos hosted by Medscape (Non-CME and CME)
- Surgical Fires: How They Start and How to Prevent Them
– FDA Expert Interview
No registration required. No CME credits are available for this version.
- Prevention of Surgical Fires
Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits are available to physicians for this video.
Please see the Medscape.org site for CME details. (Registration required.)
- Surgical Fires: How They Start and How to Prevent Them
Future Opportunities:
FDA will to continue to work with its partners to amplify and disseminate existing fire prevention tools and to search for new methods to prevent surgical fires.
FDA-Sponsored Stakeholder Meeting on Surgical Fire Prevention
On October 22, 2010, the Food and Drug Administration held a workshop to discuss FDA regulated products implicated in surgical fires and challenges in eliminating fires. The workshop was organized by the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research’s Safe Use Initiative team and the Center for Devices and Radiological Health Division of Patient Safety Partnerships.
To find out more about the “Preventing Surgical Fires” initiative or to get involved, contact the Safe Use Initiative.
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