Share:
Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 12, 2022 12:29 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Katie J. Muth and Sen. Maria Collett, Sen. Amanda M. Cappelletti |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Surgical Smoke Evacuation |
| In the near future, we will be reintroducing legislation that would ensure that operating rooms utilize surgical smoke evacuation systems to combat the negative health effects of surgical smoke and work towards creating a smoke-free environment for Pennsylvania’s healthcare workers and patients. This was previously SB 903 from the 2021-2022 session. Surgical smoke, or bovie smoke, is produced from the use of high-heat electrical tools such as lasers or electrosurgical devices used to dissect and cauterize tissue during surgery. Not only does this smoke have a repulsive odor and can obscure one’s view of the surgical site, it behaves as a carcinogen, a mutagen and an infectious vector. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the impact respiratory toxins can have on our healthcare workforce and the communities they serve. According to the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN), research has shown the presence of viruses (e.g. human papilloma virus) in surgical smoke with documented transmission to healthcare providers. By requiring operating rooms within hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers to utilize smoke evacuation systems, our legislation will take appropriate steps to safeguard these frontline workers and provide additional support for reducing the spread of illness and curb the proliferation of the next public health crisis. The bill is a commonsense approach to addressing the health and safety of patients, our family and friends, and the hospital staff that care for us all. Even without the risk to our healthcare workers of the spread of COVID-19, surgical smoke is a serious health hazard on its own. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has found that surgical smoke may contain toxic gasses, viruses and bacteria, and more than 150 hazardous chemicals, including EPA priority pollutants. NIOSH has found that burning 1 gram of tissue has the same effect as breathing in 3-6 cigarettes. Another study revealed that one day’s exposure to surgical smoke was the equivalent of inhaling the smoke of 27-30 cigarettes. NIOSH has also determined that evacuation of the smoke near the source has the greatest likelihood of preventing exposure and any health consequences associated with it and that general room ventilation by itself is not adequate to clear contaminants at the source. Nine states have already enacted such a law: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington. Please join us in co-sponsoring this legislation creating smoke free operating rooms for Pennsylvania’s patients and healthcare workers. |
Introduced as SB378