Our staff viewed surgical fires as freakish incidents that hardly ever occurred, a mindset that made creating an interesting in-service on the topic quite a challenge. But we think we succeeded in developing a unique training program, not only because it took place over 11 days but also because we managed to turn fire safety training into a friendly little competition.

We called our program the Amazing RACE to correspond to the four steps for responding to a fire: Remove, activate, contain, evacuate. In the 10 days leading up to an actual race, staff members attended daily 20-minute educational sessions to get answers for tasks that would be required in the race. Among the topics we covered were individual role responsibilities, awareness of potential hazards, steps for evacuation, protecting patients and using fire-fighting equipment.

RACE day
On the 11th day, RACE day, we recruited other hospital employees to staff stations. Six teams comprised of four OR staffers got an opening briefing, then read their first clues to discover where they should go for their first tasks. The teams had one hour to go through the facility to perform oral, written and performance activities at the various obstacles:

• The detours. This was a choice between two tasks, such as participating in a quiz bowl or completing a competency crossword puzzle.
• The roadblocks. This was a task to be performed by one team member alone - demonstrating the PASS method (pull the pin, aim at the base of the fire, squeeze the handle, sweep at the base of the fire) of handling a fire extinguisher, for example - while teammates cheered her on.
• The fast forwards. This was a blind choice between two tasks. One was short - such as locating fire extinguishers - and let the team move faster to the next clue. The other was longer - locating medical gas turn-off valves in different areas of the hospital - and slowed the team.

The results
All teams were done within 35 minutes; the first place team finished in 25 minutes. Teams were allowed to pick from prizes, including free lunch tickets, vouchers to choose assignments for the day and vouchers for on-call preferences, as they arrived at the finish line. At two weeks and two months post-race, staff completed follow-up fire safety crossword puzzles. Everyone scored 100 percent both times.

Before turning OR fires into fun and games tailored to your facility, have a well-thought-out and rehearsed fire plan in place. The elements of surgical fires - ignition source, oxidizer and fuel - are present in almost any procedure and they can come together under even the most controlled circumstances, with devastating results.