Knowledge about the effects of electrosurgery smoke among operating room nurses during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study.
ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2021;
24:100189. [PMID:
34179520 PMCID:
PMC8214320 DOI:
10.1016/j.pcorm.2021.100189]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2021] [Revised: 06/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Background
Electrosurgery smoke is the smoke emitted from tissue cauterization when using the electrosurgery device. Accordingly, in this smoke, more than 80 harmful toxins have been discovered. In the current study, we aimed to investigate the level of knowledge reported by the operating room nurses on the effects of electrosurgery smoke during the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods
This descriptive, survey-based cross-sectional study was performed on 533 OR nurses in all the referring hospitals of COVID-19 infection. The required information were collected using a questionnaire regarding the knowledge on the side effects of electrosurgery smoke. The obtained data were then analyzed using t-test and ANOVA by SPSS software.
Results
Most of the included participants (93.6%) had a low level of awareness and only a small number of them (0.4%) had a good level of knowledge on the effects of electrosurgery smoke. As well, a significant relationship (P˂0.05) was found between the level of knowledge reported by the OR nurses and the type of hospital (educational or private). Most of the studied hospitals used no electrosurgery smoke reduction equipment during electrosurgery.
Conclusion
The level of knowledge reported by the OR nurses was generally poor. It is recommended that managers and health officials try to increase the level of awareness of OR nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing standard and protective equipment as well as holding some well-organized and related training courses.
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