Promoting surgical smoke management in a pediatric operating room: a best practice implementation project

The routine use of heat-producing tools in the perioperative setting generates surgical smoke. Surgical smoke poses a known health hazard for perioperative staff working in the operating room.

The objective of this best practice project was to promote evidence-based practices regarding surgical plume management in a pediatric operating room.

This project was guided by the JBI Model of Evidence-Based Healthcare and used the JBI Practical Application of Clinical Evidence System and the Getting Research into Practice audit and feedback strategy to promote evidence-based practices regarding surgical smoke management in a pediatric operating room. Seven audit criteria representing best-practice recommendations were used. A baseline audit was conducted, followed by the implementation of multiple strategies developed by the key stakeholders. The project was finalized with a follow-up audit to determine any changes in compliance with best-practice recommendations.

Baseline audit data indicated an average of 41% compliance with best practices across all audit criteria, revealing the need for significant improvement in five of the seven criteria. Three barriers were identified and strategies were implemented, including the development and implementation of an educational module and a surgical smoke exposure risk assessment tool. Follow-up audits showed an overall improvement of 30% among five of the seven audit criteria.

This project yielded improvements with best practices for surgical smoke management in the perioperative setting. However, additional work is required to ensure the sustainability of best practices in this setting.