Signs and symptoms related to inhalation of surgical smoke in the nursing team

• Main Authors: Ana Claudia Saito (Author), Amanda Salles Margatho (Author), Aryane Apolinario Bieniek (Author), Nathanye Crystal Stanganelli (Author), Renata Perfeito Ribeiro (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, 2019-04-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 2177-9465; 10.1590/2177-9465-ean-2018-0292
• Keywords: Eletrocautério; Fumaça; Sinais e Sintomas; Saúde do Trabalhador; Nursing; RT1-120
• Source: Escola Anna Nery, Vol 23, Iss 3 (2019)

ABSTRACT Objective: To compare the prevalence of signs and symptoms related to inhalation of surgical smoke among surgical technologists and non-surgical technologists nursing professionals. Method: A cross-sectional study with 46 professionals from a university hospital. To evaluate the prevalence, an instrument with signs/symptoms related to the inhalation of electrocautery smoke was used. To verify the comparison between the prevalence of signs/symptoms, the Fisher's exact test was performed. Results: Higher prevalence of all signs/symptoms among surgical technologists, with a statistically significant difference between the act of instrumenting with the presence of at least one signs/symptoms related to inhalation of surgical smoke (p=0.01); eye irritation (p=0.02); irritation of nasal mucosa and oral cavity (p=0.03); headache (p=0.04). Conclusion: The presence of problems related to surgical smoke in nursing workers elicits more attention. Implications for practice: Health units must be aware of the risk of such exposure and take measures to preventing it.