Development and evaluation of methods for the elimination of waste anesthetic gases and vapors in hospitals.

Details

• Personal Author:
  Moffat RJ ; Piziali R ; Sher R ; Whitcher C
• Description:
  Investigation of the working conditions in an operating suite of a teaching hospital reveals that one health hazard affecting operating room personnel is probably related to chronic exposure to concentrations of the inhalation anesthetics. The sources of such agents and their distribution in the operating room are discussed. Effective control include: collection of gases and vapors at the anesthetic breathing systems and disposal procedures, or scavenging; low leakage practice by the anesthetist to minimize gas concentrations in the operating room; equipment maintenance for reducing gas leakage; air monitoring to indicate the effectiveness of the control measures. Correct application of these measures yields less than 30 ppm nitrous-oxide (10024972) and less than 0.5 ppm halothane (151677) in the operating room air, representing about 0.005 percent of the anesthetics administered to the patient. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Enflurane Environmental Monitoring Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Personnel Hydrocarbons Nitrogen Oxides Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Ventilation
• Keywords:
  NIOSH-Contract; Contract-099-73-0073; Air-quality-control; Air-sampling; Air-analysis; Nitrogen-oxides; Fluorinated-hydrocarbons; Fluorinated-ethanes; Air-monitoring; Prevention; Exhaust-ventilation; Medical-personnel; Health-care-facilities; Control-measures; Safety-measures
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Contract
• Genre:
  Report
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-121
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00047939
• Citation:
  NIOSH 1975 May; :1-121
• CAS Registry Number:
  (±)-Halothane (CAS RN 151-67-7) ; Nitrous oxide (CAS RN 10024-97-2)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1975
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Source Full Name:
  NIOSH Technical Information, 121 pages, 60 references
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7dc847c09aedf140bc731323e8446b4703641ae07d6ad9e7b7238120dab30b8f7dcaa9b938d34d035f87873a0fe7fec262d5d13dcaf290925445e82b6de3b57d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/241837/cdc_241837_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 168.02 KB ]