When patients after general anesthesia arrive to the recovery room, they continue to exhale residual anesthetic agents, as these drugs redistribute themselves from tissues back to blood and out through the lungs. And if you are a PACU nurse, then you probably can even smell what anesthetic agent a patient was on. Consequently, all this smell of Waste Anesthetic Gas (WAG) is not good for anyone in PACU, as molecules of vapor anesthetics circulate in air and can cause multiple short and long term problems, according to OSHA.
Teleflex Medical (Research Triangle Park, NC) received FDA clearance for its ISO-Gard anesthesia mask that solves this problem by recovering much of the exhaled gas and sending it to the vacuum exhaust. The system works by running oxygen through the breathing area in in one direction while exhausting using a negative pressure tube at the bottom of the mask, effectively separating the inhaled gas from the exhaled.
Features from the product page:
- Reduce hazardous WAG within breathing zone of caregiver
- Minimize the cumulative effect of low-level exposure of WAG to caregiver
- Provide unidirectional flow of oxygen through mask to ensure maximum FIO2
- CO2 monitoring port for sampling expired gas
- Fit into existing PACU workflow
- Delivers up to 10 LPM of oxygen flow
Product page: ISO-Gard Mask…