The increased number of lawsuits, insurance claims as well as incident reports indicates that the events that associate with the dangers of electrosurgery are increasing in number, and consequently not only the patients and the surgeons, rather the institutions responsible are also suffering great losses and emotional trauma because of such incidents. These occurrences threaten the health of the patient and not only that rather these incidents could also prove to be devastating for the patients that are looking for treatment. These events are raising concern not just with patients rather also with a wide community of doctors, nurses; surgeons, biomedical engineers and all other members of the health care team and many of these people are looking towards solutions to these problems.
There may be a number of different benefits associated with electro surgery, and we can also agree that it is a technique which has helped reduce blood loss and the time which is required to operate on a patient and because of the same, the patients’ chances of survival and timely recovery seem to soar higher. Despite all of the benefits, the procedure is full of concern for the best of us because it is not at all free from risks.
These hazards involve a number of different incidents including the explosion of combustible solutions amongst the essentials of the surgery like the anesthesia gas and the bowel gas, interference of the procedure with the patient’s medical instruments and the pacemakers, the stimulation of excitable body tissue, and accidental radio frequency burns.
We saw earlier how one of the hazards associated with electrosurgery could be a thermal injury. This incident could occur in two forms being direct and indirect thermal injury. In a direct thermal surgery, the surgeon misidentifies the surface which is to be treated and consequently applies an active electrode to a part of the skin which is not the target. In indirect thermal injury, on the other hand, the injury is caused due to the conduction of the electric current through pathways which are not meant to let that current through and resultantly, the target area sustains burns. These thermal burns could end in other unexpected complications as well which may include problems like vessel hemorrhage and even organ damage. These problems could in a number of cases climax in the significant indisposition and they may even cause the patient’s death if not identified in due time.
There are a number of ways in which we could take action to ensure that the risks which associate with electrosurgery could be minimized. One of the options could be for the surgeons to modify the surgical equipment to make it bipolar and replace the monopolar ones. What could further help would be to use newer electrosurgical equipment which incorporates special nodes designed for laparoscopic procedures? Another option could be to employ equipment which has better insulation to make sure that no unwanted current could pass through.
It could also prove quite useful to better train the surgeons and the supporting staff regarding the proper procedures to perform electrosurgery so that ‘operator errors’ could be minimized as much as can be. The associated risks could also be significantly controlled with the use of equipment which could monitor the active electrodes during the procedures. Various faulty equipment could also be identified through more frequent testing of that equipment, and this step is likely to ensure that risks which result from the malfunctioning of this equipment could be brought down to a minimum.
It is precisely because of the numerous benefits of this particular medical procedure that we are motivated towards minimizing the risks associated with the technique. As better off as the patient may be ever since the electrosurgery was adopted, the excitement also seems to be overshadowed by the concern as regards to the number ways in which events could go sideways. Fortunately, none of these problems are ones that we cannot take care of with just a little bit of effort.
List of References
Andrew I. Brill, J. R. (1998). Patient Safety During Laparoscopic Monopolar Electrosurgery - Principles and Guidelines. Journal of the Society of Laparoendoscopic Surgeons, 221-225.
J., P. (1985). Current electrosurgical practice: hazards. J Med, 107.
The Institute of Engineers Austrailia. (n.d.). Hazards associated with the use of electrosurgery during laparoscopic procedures. Retrieved May 21, 2016, from Engineer Australia: https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sites/default/files/shado/Learned%20Groups/Colleges/Biomedical%20College/Laproscopic%20Burns%202003_BJM.pdf
