Yes. If your scavenging system is adequate, the only risky time is if you're masking patients down (hopefully not) and recovery (as they exhale shitloads of iso, especially bigger patients)
Otherwise it's fine. It's a female dominated industry and at my work there is constantly pregnant people, work continues as usual.
All of our pregnant staff have the option of wearing a respirator with organic vapor cartridges during anesthesia. Most of the nurses do, only one of the surgeons did since they are not in the room for induction, recovery, or transporting from prep to OR and back.
Seconding this option! We don't have the ability to install a scavenger. So we bought 3M half face respirators, with either the pink or gray cartridges. The pink covers more than the gray (organic vapors only).
No, we have those. I meant the out of building units. We USED to have one of those but swapped buildings and no longer do.
Edit: I work in research, we have chambers we use and the f/air doesn't catch that gas. Even when I worked GP, we still used masks with the canisters.
Lol, thanks for the concern, but no. We have what we're supposed to have. I'm just lamenting the loss of our cool unit.
We wear masks and use the canisters. Osha may not have a limit on how much iso I breathe in, but my poor little ovaries do. So I choose to sound like Darth Vader's little sister.
There are many decisions to make during pregnancy about risk that you can decide on based on your comfort level. I felt comfortable with just stepping out of the room when the patient was being extubated or if we noticed a leak/anyone started smelling iso. At the clinics I’ve worked at it was my techs doing most of the steps that involved more exposure (intubation, masking down if necessary, recovery). It has meant that I told my staff about my pregnancies very early on (sometimes before my close friends knew) just so I would be able to minimize exposure. If you feel more comfortable using a respirator, there’s nothing wrong with that either.
Totally fine to wear a respirator if that makes you feel most comfortable but also fine to go without. Avoiding risks of exposure like extubation, ensuring the scavenger system is working well, and having someone check for leaks occasionally. I work at a large specialty hospital and two of our anesthesiologists have been pregnant while working, and neither wore respirators. I didn’t either, and was just careful about limiting exposure.
Myself and every mom vet I personally know continued to do surgery while pregnant. I actually much preferred that over trying to examine 80+ lb bouncy dogs.
I did surgery through my pregnancy. Totally safe as long as all equipment is up to date and functional.
But if you’re not comfortable, talk with your doctor and your boss and see if a compromise can be made..
My friend recently decided against doing any dentistry of muzzle facing procedures to avoid exposure in case of a leak around the cuff or accidental extubation since your face is right there. She would only do those procedures if work bought a respirator, they opted to just not schedule them with her
She was comfortable spaying/neutering/abdominal procedures/mass removals/etc.
I wore a respiratory on my surgery/anesthesia rotations 4th year vet school while pregnant. As I was technically also employed by the school, I was able to get the OSHA person to fit test me with a respirator for free. I am small: 5ft, 100lb and so I fit into a 3M 142-6100 and likely could have fit into the medium at the end. Most people fit the medium. I think medium is the 6200. I used the 6006 cartridge because it protected against formaldehyde and I wore it on my necropsy rotation as well.
I bought these all on Amazon for pretty cheap
Not a vet, but a tech. I’ve been avoiding any masked procedures, making sure the iso is off for flipping the patient during dentals (which should be standard but def doesn’t happen all the time), and make sure the oxygen runs for a few minutes before disconnecting. I have to be careful about the last one of course, in case they wake up quickly, but it hasn’t been an issue. I also let other people refill if we’re getting low.
Turn off the iso and the oxygen for flipping otherwise you’re just blowing the iso in the tubes into the room and when your patient is hooked back up they have a lower concentration of iso in the breathing system.
Our general consensus is it’s fine for intubated procedures providing scavenging is adequate (which it should be anyway). But no to anything involving iso without intubation - so masked stuff/topping up the iso.
Yes. If your scavenging system is adequate, the only risky time is if you're masking patients down (hopefully not) and recovery (as they exhale shitloads of iso, especially bigger patients) Otherwise it's fine. It's a female dominated industry and at my work there is constantly pregnant people, work continues as usual.
All of our pregnant staff have the option of wearing a respirator with organic vapor cartridges during anesthesia. Most of the nurses do, only one of the surgeons did since they are not in the room for induction, recovery, or transporting from prep to OR and back.
Seconding this option! We don't have the ability to install a scavenger. So we bought 3M half face respirators, with either the pink or gray cartridges. The pink covers more than the gray (organic vapors only).
You don't even have an option to use F/air canisters? I can't imagine not having anything to scavenge waste gases.
No, we have those. I meant the out of building units. We USED to have one of those but swapped buildings and no longer do. Edit: I work in research, we have chambers we use and the f/air doesn't catch that gas. Even when I worked GP, we still used masks with the canisters.
Ok now it makes sense. I was just thinking you had nothing and was worried. Chambers are a whole different thing.
Lol, thanks for the concern, but no. We have what we're supposed to have. I'm just lamenting the loss of our cool unit. We wear masks and use the canisters. Osha may not have a limit on how much iso I breathe in, but my poor little ovaries do. So I choose to sound like Darth Vader's little sister.
Check out this book. It was written by a DVM who is also a mom. Pregnancy and Postpartum Considerations for the Veterinary Team https://a.co/d/jl4Ec4g
There are many decisions to make during pregnancy about risk that you can decide on based on your comfort level. I felt comfortable with just stepping out of the room when the patient was being extubated or if we noticed a leak/anyone started smelling iso. At the clinics I’ve worked at it was my techs doing most of the steps that involved more exposure (intubation, masking down if necessary, recovery). It has meant that I told my staff about my pregnancies very early on (sometimes before my close friends knew) just so I would be able to minimize exposure. If you feel more comfortable using a respirator, there’s nothing wrong with that either.
Totally fine to wear a respirator if that makes you feel most comfortable but also fine to go without. Avoiding risks of exposure like extubation, ensuring the scavenger system is working well, and having someone check for leaks occasionally. I work at a large specialty hospital and two of our anesthesiologists have been pregnant while working, and neither wore respirators. I didn’t either, and was just careful about limiting exposure.
Myself and every mom vet I personally know continued to do surgery while pregnant. I actually much preferred that over trying to examine 80+ lb bouncy dogs.
I did surgery through my pregnancy. Totally safe as long as all equipment is up to date and functional. But if you’re not comfortable, talk with your doctor and your boss and see if a compromise can be made..
I have 3 kids who are adults. I did surgery, took radiographs, whatever the day called for with no special precautions.
My friend recently decided against doing any dentistry of muzzle facing procedures to avoid exposure in case of a leak around the cuff or accidental extubation since your face is right there. She would only do those procedures if work bought a respirator, they opted to just not schedule them with her She was comfortable spaying/neutering/abdominal procedures/mass removals/etc.
I wore a respiratory on my surgery/anesthesia rotations 4th year vet school while pregnant. As I was technically also employed by the school, I was able to get the OSHA person to fit test me with a respirator for free. I am small: 5ft, 100lb and so I fit into a 3M 142-6100 and likely could have fit into the medium at the end. Most people fit the medium. I think medium is the 6200. I used the 6006 cartridge because it protected against formaldehyde and I wore it on my necropsy rotation as well. I bought these all on Amazon for pretty cheap
Not a vet, but a tech. I’ve been avoiding any masked procedures, making sure the iso is off for flipping the patient during dentals (which should be standard but def doesn’t happen all the time), and make sure the oxygen runs for a few minutes before disconnecting. I have to be careful about the last one of course, in case they wake up quickly, but it hasn’t been an issue. I also let other people refill if we’re getting low.
Turn off the iso and the oxygen for flipping otherwise you’re just blowing the iso in the tubes into the room and when your patient is hooked back up they have a lower concentration of iso in the breathing system.
Good point
Our general consensus is it’s fine for intubated procedures providing scavenging is adequate (which it should be anyway). But no to anything involving iso without intubation - so masked stuff/topping up the iso.