4 Tips to Elevate Your Team’s Fire Prevention Skills

Fires in the OR are rare, but when they happen will your team be prepared?

One of the leading causes of OR fires is shortcomings in teamwork and communication. Let’s talk fire safety and start the conversation by discussing risks, prevention, and improving team communication.

We’ve compiled a roundup of resources to help align your practices with AORN Guidelines and The Joint Commission recommendations.

AORN previewed a new resource in Periop Today. It’s a new algorithm to simplify fire risk assessment. This one-page resource helps teams review fire risks when oxygen, fuel, and ignition sources are present. Teams can use this to discuss risks and how to implement evidence-based fire prevention practices.

It’s also important to note that The Joint Commission recently issued a new Sentinel Event Alert on surgical fires. They found a significant cause of OR fires is problems with teamwork and communication.

Educators play a pivotal role in improving team communication and in strengthening teamwork. OR teams will also rely on them to boost their team’s readiness to help prevent this uncommon but serious patient safety risk.

Periop Today asked former educator Ashley Smith, MSN RN CNOR NPD-BC, how she and her colleagues promote fire safety communication within the ORs she manages at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, VA.

“One of the most important things periop educators can remember is practice makes perfect,” Smith says. “You can’t train on fire safety once a year and hope it works well for the patient.”

Fire safety education is an ongoing discussion in her department. Periop leaders empower team members to raise concerns and questions during fire safety training.

4 Fire Safety Tips to Share

Here are four ways Smith’s teams combine fire safety and psychological safety to improve communication:

1. Incorporate Communication into Realistic Mock Fire Safety Scenarios

Base your mock scenarios on realistic events more likely to occur in your practice setting. Build communication into the scenario so team members can practice voicing fire risk escalation. Include sample responses to help team members understand how and when to speak up.

2. Use Communication Tools to Support Fire Safety Response

Train with PASS (Pull pin, Aim at base of fire, Squeeze handle, Sweep side to side) and RACE (Rescue, Alarm, Confine, Extinguish). Use PASS and RACE to reinforce reminders for fast action during a surgical fire. Use team STEPPS standardized language to help create hard stops to advocate for patients. Whenever there is an event related to fire safety, debrief on the events leading to the risk to reinforce relevant fire prevention practices.

3. Make Fire Safety Fun

Formal fire safety training should use different learning modalities to help enhance boring PowerPoint presentations. Share a funny video clip or other gamified education. Make it fun and safe so team members open up and discuss safety education, fire risks, and implementing practices to mitigate them.

4. Talk About Fire Risks Every Day

Make fire risk assessment part of the pre-surgical Time Out. You can discuss potential fire risks during daily safety huddles and staff meetings. This daily reminder is essential for surgical fire because it’s such a high-risk/low-frequency event—you must keep surgical fire in mind for every patient. 

Smith stresses that “part of being a safe and competent OR team member, regardless of your role, is having knowledge and critical thinking skills to prioritize high-risk/low-frequency events with the same intensity as you would for high-risk/high-frequency events.”