Take Precautions With Flammable Meds

Fires involving flammable meds are rare but dangerous events.

These fires most likely occur during procedures where patients receive oxygen and there's a source of heat such as a laser. There's about one surgical fire every other day in the United States...and about one in six will lead to very serious patient harm.

Know which meds are flammable. Many are topicals used in perioperative areas...such as alcohol skin preps (ChloraPrep, etc), ethyl chloride numbing agents, benzoin tinctures, and collodion.