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AORN Guidance Statement: Fire Prevention in the Operating Room
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
aorn journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1878-0369
pISSN - 0001-2092
DOI - 10.1016/s0001-2092(06)60475-4
Subject(s) - statement (logic) , citation , library science , computer science , political science , law
AORN recognizes that fire is an inherent risk in ORs. Fire is an ever-present danger and poses a real hazard to patient and health care worker safety. In 2003, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) issued a sentinel event alert related to fires that occur during operative and invasive procedures. The bulletin raised the level of awareness about the dangers of surgical fires. The Joint Commission recommends that health care organizations prevent surgical fires by providing education and training for perioperative practitioners.1 In July 2004, surgical fire prevention was added to the 2005 National Patient Safety Goals for ambulatory and office-based surgical facilities.2 The approach to developing policies and procedures to reduce fire risk should be multidisciplinary and involve all professionals who provide patient care. Facilities are encouraged to report surgical fires to JCAHO, ECRI, or the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Systematic reporting of fires can help educate care providers about how and why fires occur and can help prevent fires in the future.1