The recent ICE webinar “Laser Safety in Medical Imaging: The Importance of a Medical Laser Safety Officer” was presented by Vangie Dennis, MSN, RN, CNOR, CMLSO, FAORN, Perioperative Consulting LLC, and Patti Owens, MHA, BSN, RN, CMLSO, CNOR, AestheticMed Consulting International LLC.
The subject matter experts discussed the need for a Laser Safety Officer (LSO). The webinar covered guidelines, standards, and procedures for safe laser use in medical settings, as well as defined the roles and responsibilities of an LSO.
The webinar clarified whether an LSO is required based on specific guidelines and standards for laser use. The presenters, with expertise in laser safety, addressed the crucial aspects of laser safety, including biophysics, tissue interaction and safety protocols. A question-and-answer session delivered additional insights as the presenters answered questions from attendees.
The session also included a question-and-answer session. The presenters provided additional insights via thoughtful answers to questions from attendees.
One question was, “As a young clinical engineer, I served as the co-LMSO with a nursing counterpart. Do you see organizations using this model? Does it have advantages over having only a technical or a clinical MLSO?”
One presenter replied, “I’ll take that because I was actually a contracted medical laser safety officer for a large hospital system out of Atlanta and that was their model and it actually worked extremely well. They were both MLSOs. It depends on what your organizational structure is going to be. The issue is you do you have somebody that is a medical laser safety officer, but the other one is a deputy, but they have both imperative roles that relate to the success of the program.”
“I mean, yes, the nurse or the surgical tech has the clinical background, but they don’t have the engineering methodology of why a laser does what it does in so many senses of the word. I think it’s a great model, but it really depends on how your hospital would like to set it up.”
Another question was, “How do you quantify the degree of laser exposure to a person?”
“There’s really several ways,” Owens answered. “The standards, I’d say, Patti, what was it about eight years ago just changed to where baseline examinations were not required. And the confusion was that if an exposure occurred, it was hard to differentiate it cumulatively. If they ever reported it to begin with, whether it’s an exposure from some other type of radiation or lasers.”
“Usually, if you’re exposed to a flash or not having glasses on and you think you are, it means immediately setting up an examination by an ophthalmologist to assure that retinal damage hasn’t occurred. You can tell an old burn from a new one.”
Another question that came up was, “Who is the best person in an organization to take on the role of LSO when lasers are used in multiple facilities?”
“Once again, you know, it’s all up to your facility. I think Vangie and I have seen everyone come through our courses. And it’s, you know, let’s say you’re a lot of, let’s say you’re a radiation safety officer, you have no idea what the surgical or the aesthetic or dermatology or the ophthalmology ENT, you have no idea of that, we still have to perform a laser hazard evaluation, then if you said, get someone who has that clinical background, you take ownership, you start going into the sites and seeing where these lasers are already being used,” Owens said.” Work with the laser operator, work with the laser user, work with the laser manufacturer, read the user guide, which is really informative, and that will help bring you up to speed also.
“So, it’s a little bit more of an uphill challenge, but a couple of lead hospitals that I have been working with, they were radiation safety officers and over a period of a year, they were able to bring that program up to a very, very viable and competent level,” she added.
For more information, visit https://medicallasersafety.com/.
