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Electrosurgical smoke (ESS)/plume exposure is a serious health hazard and a major quality issue facing patients and staff in the operating theatre (OT). A series of audits were conducted to measure staff compliance with local policy and the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) Recommended Practices for Electrosurgery (AORN, 2015) and other research-based literature to identify an aspect of practice for a quality improvement project. Inconsistent use of smoke evacuation units in conjunction with the use of diathermy became the focus of recommendations and a continuous quality improvement action plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surgical smoke or plume is created from a range of devices used in electrosurgery. The chemical components in smoke plume are well known to be harmful. Plume evacuation systems are also widely available. The New Zealand legislation and risk management process is discussed along with the need for workplace champions to make all our workplaces 'smoke free.' [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented regarding the changes implemented in the smoke evacuator diathermy systems, a surgical device, and also presents a response from the editor.