Exposure Hazards
Many health care workers are unaware of the potential health hazards associated with waste anesthetic gases in their work environment. This makes them more vulnerable to illness.
Potential Hazard
Health care workers could be exposed to waste anesthetic gases from:
- poor work practices during the anesthetization of patients
Protect yourself from harmful anesthetic gases in the surgical suite.
- leaking or poor gas-line connections
- improper or inadequate maintenance of the machine
- patient exhalation in the recovery room or Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU) during off-gassing of surgery patients
In the next section, we will take a look at some possible solutions to protect yourself against exposure to dangerous anesthetic gases.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
1-3. How might health care workers be exposed to anesthetic gases?
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