Resources and Tools for Preventing Surgical Fires

 

Educational Videos
 

• 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.)
     
• Prevention and Management of Operating Room Fires
  With the assistance of ECRI Institute, The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) has produced this 18-minute long video describes best practices to prevent the potentially devastating complication of a fire in the operating room. The intended audience is everyone who works in the OR during surgery. Watch the video online or request a complimentary DVD.
   
• FDA Patient Safety News: Preventing Fires in the Operating Room
  This 3 minute FDA video clip for health care professionals, summarizes the main points of APSF’s video, “Prevention and Management of Operating Room Fires.”

    

 

Reference Articles and Advisories
 

• American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Task Force on Operating Room Fires – Practice Advisory for the Prevention and Management of Operating Room Fires   
  This updated version of the practice advisory was published in: Anesthesiology. 2013 Feb;118(2):271-290.

• Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) – Fighting Fire (2008)

• Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) - Use of Alcohol-based Skin Preparations in Anesthetizing Locations (PDF - 79KB) (2007) 

• "FDA Seeks to Prevent Surgical Fires"
  ENT Today. April 2012 Issue.   Official publication of the Triological Society (The American Laryngological, Rhinological, and Otological Society, Inc.)
  This article provides recommendations for otolaryngologists on how to minimize the risk of surgical fires. It also mentions the Preventing Surgical Fires Initiative.

• The Joint Commission Sentinel Event Alert - Preventing Surgical Fires (2003)

• "Surgical Fire Injuries Continue to Occur: Prevention May Require More Cautious Use of Oxygen"  
  Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation's APSF Newsletter
  Winter 2012 Issue (volume 26, No. 3, pg 41 and 43)
  This article lists conditions that put patients at risk for surgical fires and steps anesthesia professionals can take to decrease the likelihood of a surgical fire, including reassessment of the administration of supplemental oxygen using the included algorithm.
  
  APSF Fire Prevention Algorithm (updated March 2013)
  Poster in three sizes to download and print  (Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation)

• "Surgical Fires: Trends Associated with Prevention Efforts"
  Pa Patient Saf Advis 2012 Dec;9(4):130-5
  
  John R. Clarke, MD
  Editor, Pennsylvania Patient Safety Advisory
  Clinical Director, Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority
  Professor of Surgery, Drexel University
  
  Mark E. Bruley, CCE
  Vice President, Accident and Forensic Investigation, ECRI Institute
  Editorial Advisory Board, Pennsylvania Patient Safety Advisory
  
  From the Abstract: "Surgical fires remain a significant enough risk to justify use of a Fire Risk Assessment Score and adherence to the recommendations of the American Society of Anesthesiologists Task Force on Operating Room Fires and those of the Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation."
  

 

Fire Risk Assessment Tools
 

• Surgical Fire Risk Assessment Tools  
  Christiana Care Health System (Wilmington, DE) has developed and integrated a fire risk assessment in their universal protocol. Examples of this protocol, as well as an accompanying presentation are available on their website.

• Fire Safety Tool Kit
  The Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) has created a fire safety tool kit, portions of which are available for non-members. The Tool Kit contains sample fire risk assessment checklists as well as tools to assist in creating scenarios and evaluations for fire drills in healthcare facilities.

• Fires in the OR  (Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center)
  This video shows a modified time out procedure that includes a discussion of the steps each operating room team member would take to prevent a fire and the steps they would take if a fire occurred.

 

Educational Posters
 

• Airway Fires During Surgery (PDF - 820KB)  
  This poster from the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority discusses ways to minimize and fight airway fires.

• APSF Fire Prevention Algorithm (updated March 2013)
  Poster in three sizes to download and print  (Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation)

• Emergency Procedure - Extinguishing A Surgical Fire (PDF - 406KB) 
  ECRI Institute’s poster describes emergency procedures for extinguishing fires and caring for patients if a surgical fire should occur. 

• Only You Can Prevent Surgical Fires (PDF - 3MB)
  ECRI Institute‘s poster details recommendations to prevent surgical fires.

 

Related Websites
 

• ECRI Institute - Surgical Fire Prevention

• Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority — Educational Tools  

• SurgicalFire.org