Knowledge, Occupational Health and Environmental Awareness About Inhalational Anesthetics Among Surgical Staff

The exposure to inhalational anesthetics (IA) can cause various negative health impacts to surgical staff and patients in operating theatres (OTs), and also contribute to global warming. However, many surgical staff in Nigeria are unaware of these negative impacts, and many OTs have inadequate technical and personal protective equipment to control IA pollution and ensure the safety of surgical staff and their patients. This study assessed the knowledge, occupational health, and environmental awareness on inhalational anaesthetics among surgical staff in three tertiary hospitals in North-Central Nigeria. Only surgical staff present in the OT and having at least one year of OT experience were selected to fill the questionnaire. Frequency counts and percentages were used to analyze the data. At the assessment period, none of the OTs had anaesthetic gas scavenging systems available or functional. Responses to the survey showed that only 54 surgical staff (43.9%) were adequately knowledgeable about the adverse health effects of leaked IAs, and the majority of the respondents (56.1%) were not aware that their OTs did not have anaesthetic gas scavenging systems at the time of the assessment. The occupational health and environmental awareness of the surgical staff were unsatisfactory. Hospital management should support anesthetists and other surgical staff to practice environmentally sustainable anesthesiology. More importantly, hospitals must provide regular and up-to-date training on the hazards of inhalational anaesthetics and measures that prevent them from polluting the OT.