Surgical smoke evacuators and inertia in the time of COVID

As an anesthesiologist, I fully understand that providers in my specialty, along with emergency room and intensive care providers, must care for patients with COVID-19 at close physical range during aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs) such as tracheal intubation and extubation, without the option of “social distancing.”  Consequently, we currently rely on personal protective equipment (PPE), operating room ventilation systems, preoperative COVID testing, and hopefully, in the future, on vaccination and herd …

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