An Assessment of the Occupational Hazards Related to Medical Lasers

Pierce, Jennifer S.; Lacey, Sajni; Lippert, Julia F.; Cabello, R.; Franke, John E.; Colvard, Michael D.

doi:10.1097/jom.0b013e318236399e

Cited by 22 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…For example, in the use of laser therapies, laser radiation absorption can result in thermal damage when the laser radiation raises the temperature of body tissue [50]. This type of exposure while performing laser procedures can result in eye injuries, which are the most common, as well as skin burns and electric shock.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pierce (2011) reported on 37 cases of laser-induced injures to health care workers more broadly (e.g., technicians, laser operators, ancillary medical staff) which occurred while performing medical procedures; 73% caused eye injuries, some of which were permanent. Personal protective eyewear was not always worn and is essential in preventing direct and indirect beam exposure [50]. Also, it has been reported that radiation exposure can occur through exposure to urine and feces from patients treated with Radium-223 and Iodine-131 [51,52] which is a care task of NAs.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Exploration of cleaning with less toxic chemicals in the healthcare arena can also be explored. Physical hazards discovered in the literature about NAs included exposure to laser, radiation and noise [50,51,52,53]. In the case of both laser and radiation, again recommendations for personal protective equipment (PPE) exist but the extent to which NAs are trained or use PPE is unknown.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Workplace Hazards Faced by Nursing Assistants in the United States: A Focused Literature Review

Walton

Rogers

2017

IJERPH

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Nursing assistants (NAs) make up a large share of the healthcare provider workforce and their numbers are expected to grow. NAs are predominantly women who earn a low wage and report financial, work, and family demands. Working as a NA is hazardous; this manuscript specifically examines the biological/infectious, chemical, enviromechanical, physical and psychosocial hazards that appear in the literature to date. A focused search strategy was used to review literature about hazards that fell into each of the five aforementioned domains. While some hazards that were documented were clear, such as exposure to influenza because of close contact with patients (biological/infectious), or exposure to hazardous drugs (chemical), literature was limited. The majority of the literature we reviewed fell into the domain of psychosocial hazards and centered on stress from workplace organization issues (such as mandatory overtime, lack of managerial support, and feeling rushed). More research is needed to understand which hazards NAs identify as most concerning and tailored interventions are needed for risk mitigation.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Workplace Hazards Faced by Nursing Assistants in the United States: A Focused Literature Review

Walton

Rogers

2017

IJERPH

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“…Lasers are second only to electrosurgery as the most common ignition source in operating room fires [64]. Lasers do not require direct contact with material to cause combustion.…”

Section: Laser Surgerymentioning

confidence: 99%

Error Avoidance in Dermatologic Surgery

Decker

Lawrence

2015

Curr Derm Rep

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Surgical errors pose a significant source of morbidity, mortality, and expense within the health care system. While rates of errors within dermatologic surgery are low, there are certain areas of dermatologic surgery that are more prone to errors than others. These include site identification, specimen labeling, triage, lidocaine toxicity, needle sticks, electrosurgery, and laser surgery. Within these areas, continued research is being done to identify the source of the errors and establish protocols to minimize the risk.

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“…The dimension of laser‐induced tissue damage depends upon the wavelength and irradiance of the incident optical radiation, thereby determining the depth of penetration and severity of injury. Biological laser‐tissue interaction may be categorized as photo‐acoustic, photo‐chemical and photo‐thermal reactions . Q‐switched Nd: YAG 532‐nm laser is used for the treatment of vascular lesions and epidermal pigmented lesions because of its penetration depth and absorption spectrum in skin tissue .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dose‐dependent study of effects of 532‐nm continuous wave laser on rat skin: A mechanistic insight

Bora

Kumar

Prakash

et al. 2019

Journal of Biophotonics

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Visible lasers emitting in the green spectral region are being routinely employed in various medical and defense fields namely treatment of pigmented lesions, tattoo inks, port wine stains, dazzling the target or mob dispersal. Despite their increasing applications, lasers also tend to pose occupational hazards to operators, ancillary personnel, individuals undergoing laser therapies. This study was aimed at investigating the effects of different doses of 532‐nm continuous wave laser on rat skin. The present study demonstrated that higher fluences of 532‐nm continuous wave (CW) laser induces significant tissue damage through induction of tumor necrosis factor‐α, cyclooxygenase‐2, tumor protein (p53), PARP 1, caspase3 which in turn leads to tissue damage and cell death. Furthermore, level of heat shock proteins, pAkt were found up‐regulated as a cope up response to laser‐induced stress. On the basis of the findings, irradiation with 532‐nm CW laser up to 2.5 J/cm2 was found within the safe exposure limits. Thus, it is probably the first attempt to demonstrate the tissue damage induced by 532‐nm CW laser on skin, which may help in choosing safe laser dose for certain skin‐based applications and evolving methods to ameliorate laser‐inflicted injuries.

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An Assessment of the Occupational Hazards Related to Medical Lasers

Abstract: Because of the clinical benefits they provide, the growth of laser technologies and applications are anticipated to result in an increase in the number and type of medical personnel with future exposure to laser hazards.

Cited by 22 publications

References 69 publications

Workplace Hazards Faced by Nursing Assistants in the United States: A Focused Literature Review

Workplace Hazards Faced by Nursing Assistants in the United States: A Focused Literature Review

Error Avoidance in Dermatologic Surgery

Dose‐dependent study of effects of 532‐nm continuous wave laser on rat skin: A mechanistic insight

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