A new training program called Fundamental Use of Surgical Energy (FUSE) — aimed to educate surgeons and staff on electrosurgery devices in the OR — launched today, the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons (SAGES) announced.

The FUSE program will help fill a surgical safety gap, since there is currently no formal training program to promote electrosurgical safety in the operating room, the organization says.

FUSE was created after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration started a "Preventing Surgical Fires" initiative in 2011. Around that time, SAGES began to gather experts to create a FUSE Task Force to launch to program.

"One safety issue the FUSE program addresses is surgical fires which occur several hundred times in the United States annually," says Daniel B. Jones, MD, chair of the FUSE Task Force. "It is important to note that approximately two-thirds of these OR fires involve electrosurgical equipment."

In the OR, the surgeon, anesthesiologist and nurse each control the heat, gas and fuel, respectively, that lead to fires when not monitored correctly, according to SAGES. The FUSE program is designed to give surgeons, regardless of specialty, surgical nurses and other OR health personnel a comprehensive understanding of electrosurgery safety, says SAGES.

FUSE is "a critical tool that should be part of any formal OR training," says SAGES President L. Michael Brunt, MD.

FUSE's curriculum is interactive and web-based, and can be found for free online. FUSE covers the fundamental principles of electrosurgical devices, aspects of commonly used devices in different settings, integration of energy systems with other devices and ways to prevent operating room fires. Following completion of the curriculum, those in the program take a FUSE certification exam.

Kendal Gapinski