title: Fires in the operating room and intensive care unit: awareness is the key to prevention.
abstract: Recent recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to use alcohol-based substances for hand hygiene and skin antisepsis could introduce new fire hazards in the operating room (OR). This potential for an increase in the number of fires in the hospital setting with wide spread use of alcohol-based agents warrants heightened awareness of the risks and implementation of safety measures when using these agents. Here, we report a patient who, during a tracheostomy, sustained severe burns resulting from a fire in the OR. In this case, the use of an alcohol-based antiseptic was the major contributing factor to the surgical fire.
authors.affiliation: Critical Care Medicine Department, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
authors.forename: Rajnish
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.forename: Zenaide
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Quezado
authors.forename: Arthur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: St Andre
authors.forename: Naomi P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: O'Grady
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000891:Anti-Infective Agents, Local / Q000009:adverse effects; D001364:Awareness; D000431:Ethanol / Q000009:adverse effects; D005260:Female; D005390:Fires / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D009873:Operating Rooms
chemical_list: D000891:Anti-Infective Agents, Local; D000431:Ethanol