Educational videos on surgical fires

ECRI has been investigating, reporting on, and teaching about surgical fires for about 30 years. Our experience has shown that most of these fires could have been avoided had the staff been adequately educated about the hazards. Educational videos are just one tool that hospitals can use to provide the fire-safety training that surgical staff require. In this Evaluation, we look at eight videos covering fire safety in the operating room (OR). Our examination focuses on how well these videos address surgical fires in particular, since these can be the most devastating type of OR fire. We rate each video on how effectively it meets the fire-safety training needs of today's healthcare workers. For an educational fire safety video to earn at least an Acceptable rating, it must clearly and correctly explain what surgical fires are, how they occur, how they can be avoided, and how staff should respond if a fire occurs. Only three of the videos meet those criteria. The rest either contain errors, are missing information, or make hazardous recommendations and are rated Not Recommended or Unacceptable.