Fire in the operating room due to equipment failure

Fire safety in the operating room.

1. To understand why and how a fire occurs, one needs to look at what is ignited, how it was ignited, and any other factors that may have changed either of these concepts. The three most common ignition sources are lasers, electric cautery equipment, and high intensity light cords. 2. There are four human reactions to fire: disbelief; do nothing; reconsideration of the existence of fire; and ta...

Communication failure in the operating room.

BACKGROUND Communication errors contribute to the occurrence of adverse events in various domains of health care. Recent studies surveying perceptions of communication in the operating room have found disparities in the perceived quality of communication among members of the operating room team. Our aim was to characterize the nature of communication failures observed in the operating room and ...

Fire in the operating room: principles and prevention.

Fire is a rare but potentially disastrous operating room misadventure. In this article, the authors describe the elements of operating room fires and present an illustrative case. The risk of fire can be minimized when the operating room team understands the interactions among the three sides of the classic fire triangle: oxidizers, fuels, and ignition sources. Lists of fire prevention techniqu...

AORN guidance statement: Fire prevention in the operating room.

Fire in the Operating Room During Hypospadias Repair

Fire in the operating room (OR) is a very distressful and shocking occurrence with potential dramatic consequences. Despite safety rules and rigorous recommendations, such unintentional events do occur every so often. Notably, the vast majority of cases have been reported in the adult population, with very few pediatric cases described to date. Herein, we report on a 16-month-old boy undergoing...