ST. LOUIS — Ahead of a new Missouri law taking effect, SSM Health St. Clare Hospital recently became the first in the St. Louis region to completely eliminate surgical smoke from its operating rooms.
By doing so, electrocautery devices, or bovies, used in surgery were replaced with new ones that have an attached suction and filtration system, according to Lesley Davidter, director of surgical services.
Prior to the new electrocautery devices, Davidter said surgical staff were being exposed to carcinogenic smoke equivalent to smoking 27 cigarettes per hour…