Surgical Team’s Knowledge of Electrocauterization Smoke Complications in Several Educational Hospitals in Mashhad, Iran, in 2014

The electrocauterization smoke is a plume that is produced from the interaction of tissue and electrocautery. This smoke consists of hazardous material that causes complications, such as respiratory disorders, nausea, vomiting, eye irritation, headache, and transmitting the viruses of human papillomavirus and hepatitis. The purpose of the present study was to determine the surgical team's knowledge of these complications in Mashhad educational hospitals, Mashhad, Iran, in 2014.

This was a descriptive-cross sectional study carried out on 140 members of the surgical team of Mashhad educational hospitals in 2012 by census method. Data were collected by a researcher-designed questionnaire titled “surgical team’s knowledge of electrocauterization smoke complications”. Obtained data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 16), Kruskal-Wallis test, and Mann-Whitney U test. The significant level was considered P

Obtained results showed a significant relationship between knowledge and gender (P=0.02) so that the knowledge of the men was higher than that of the women. Also, there was no significant relationship between knowledge with the educational level (P=0.591) and work experience (P=0.286). According to the results, the mean score of the participants’ knowledge was 7.7±4.01 so that 75% of the participants had a low level of knowledge of electrocauterization smoke complications. The lowest levels of knowledge were related to women (55.7%), participants with a bachelor’s degree (47.8%), and individuals with work experience of 0-10 years (42.8%),

Regarding the fact that the knowledge level of the surgical team in Mashhad educational hospitals is low, it is recommended to upgrade the level of knowledge of the healthcare personnel by holding workshops or writing pamphlets.