Surgical Smoke Advocate Credits AORN for Helping Law to Pass in NJ

Lifetime AORN member Felix Rivera BSN, RN, CNOR, RNFA, didn’t get discouraged when a surgical smoke bill failed to make progress in New Jersey back in 2019. Undeterred, his perseverance played an instrumental role in its eventual passage this year.

Rivera works as a Robotic Surgery RNFA at Saint Peter’s University Hospital. As an OR nurse with 25 years of experience, Rivera says he’s always felt OR staff and patients should be protected from surgical smoke. So, in 2018, he used his position as the president of the New Jersey State Council for Perioperative Registered Nurses (NJSC) to unite local AORN chapters, OR staff, and members of medical associations throughout the state.

And he said they couldn’t have done it with the “huge support” they received from AORN.

“I always thought there should be smoke laws in every state already,” he said. “And we as employees of hospitals, we should be protected along with our patients (from smoke). It shouldn’t be something we have to fight for. We are the patient’s advocate. We’re supposed to talk for them, and that’s always in my mind.”

The Journey Starts

Rivera started attending AORN Congress in 2010 and subsequently began learning about surgical smoke hazards and pending legislation in other states. During his quarterly state council meetings (which includes 7 AORN chapter leaders), they decided the state needed a surgical smoke policy. He then reached out to AORN, who provided them with multiple resources and support.

“I also asked our local OR leaders to reach out to the local politicians and help spread the word, and I asked them to ask their OR staff to fill out the letter of support (provided by AORN),” he said. “We also connected with multiple associations (to get a letter of support) like the New Jersey State Society of Anesthesiologists, Inc., and the New Jersey Association of Surgical Technologists (NJAST).”

Rivera worked with Jennifer Pennock and Amy Young from AORN, and Young met with Assemblywoman Nancy Muñoz, who sponsored a surgical smoke bill in 2019 that required facilities to adopt and implement policies to evacuate surgical smoke. Although the bill wasn’t approved, Rivera and his supporters didn’t give up.

“From the beginning, AORN was always right there to help and support us. I really didn’t know anything about the political process, but Amy even helped with the verbiage of the bill,” Rivera said. “Year after year, we changed the bills and filled out more letters, but nothing happened. Still, we didn’t stop.”

Real Change

Muñoz sponsored a bill again in 2022, and Pennock connected River with lobbyist. She then helped him prepare a testimony for the Assembly in June. And a brief time later, he talked to the state Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee.

“When I talked to the Senate, I asked some of my members to come and show support, and they did,” Rivera said. “We also had 200 letters of support.”

In addition to the AORN NJ State Council’s advocacy work, the legislation was supported by the New Jersey State Nurses Association (NJSNA), the State Society of Physician Assistants, the state organizations for both the nurse anesthetists and the anesthesiologists, and the Organization of Nurse Leaders.

On March 13 of this this year, Governor Phil Murphy signed A256/S732 into law. It then took affect on June 11.

“When it got passed, all the members in our local AORN chapters were so happy,” Rivera said. “It lifted a burden on us. We protected our patients and we protected ourselves too.”

Looking back at the five-year process and his advocacy work, Rivera said the hardest part was “getting everyone on board.”

“There were some surgeons who weren’t really interested, but my supervisors and manager supported me 100 percent,” he said.

“What really made a difference was AORN. I keep telling my members to become a member. AORN is your go-to and there’s tons of benefits. It’s our bread and butter.”