[Histonet] Formalin in operating (surgery) rooms

[Lee & Peggy Wenk]

I think this is mostly a safety issue, and suggest NOT allowing any amount 
of formalin in OR/surgery rooms.

1. Training:
Doesn't matter how much or how little formalin is in the room. If it is 
being used in a room, then everyone using it MUST receive yearly training on 
formaldehyde and on spill kits, according to OSHA. So anyone who picks up 
the tissue and puts it in a container with formalin must be trained yearly - 
every tech, every nurse, etc. That can be a LOT of people. Who is going to 
do the training and the documentation?

2. Spill Kits:
If there is formalin in the OR rooms, there must be formaldehyde spill kits 
in the room, or very, very close by the room. And everyone one working in 
the OR must know where the kits are and how to use them (training). This not 
practical inside each OR room (no space, sterilization, etc.), so there are 
usually kits very near by each OR. That would usually mean having one kit 
for every X number of OR's, with wall signs marking their locations. Are 
there enough "nursing stations", cleaning rooms, spaces in hall, etc. to 
position spill kits, to have enough kits available close by all the rooms?

3. Spill:
If there is a formalin spill in the OR - I don't even want to think about 
evacuating everyone from the OR, including the patient who is opened up on 
the table.

The better idea is to have one or a couple of locations (separate rooms) 
where the formalin is stored, and then bring the tissue to those locations, 
and place the tissue in the formalin at those locations. Then you have to 
train just those people pouring the formalin on the tissues in those 
locations, and it would be easier to store spill kits and contain the 
spills.

Some hospitals don't allow formalin on the OR floor. They have refrigerators 
in rooms near the OR, where the tissue is stored fresh after removed from 
surgery. Then every hour or two, all the tissue is taken to the lab (either 
the OR has runners, or the lab has runners). There is a documentation 
issue - have to write down what tissue is dropped off in the refrigerators 
and when, by whom, and then what tissue was picked up, when and by whom. 
Tissue can easily be overlooked, and left in the refrigerator for a long 
period of time.

Peggy A. Wenk, HTL(ASCP)

-----Original Message----- 
From: Candace J. Wagner
Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2014 1:50 PM
To: 'histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu'
Subject: [Histonet] Formalin in operating (surgery) rooms

Hello all out in Histoland,
I had a surgery tech ask me if there was a specific amount of formalin 
allowed in the surgery rooms.
I could not find anywhere any documentation on a specific amount.  We supply 
our surgery dept. with the formalin they need, usually about 2 gallons in 
each room now, but just wondering if anyone has any idea if there is such a 
"specific" amount?? Thanks

-CJ-



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