Bovie settings????

[L&D caligirl7]

Hi all! I need some input from all you nurses out there that work with Electrosurgery/"Bovie" units. I have been an L & D nurse going on six years and have worked in four different facilities across the country that use ESU's or "Bovie" machines for c-section to cut/ coag during a case. typically the settings I have used range from 30/30 to 45/45. I am at a facility now where an MD requests the Bovie to be placed at 80/80:nono: for all of his cases. To me, this seems dangerous and creates a higher risk of not only burns, increased fumes and electrical arching to other tissues ( I feel that he may be frying the egg cells in the ovaries!!!) :smokin:When confronted, he insists that it is the manufacturers recommendation. I have tried to look it up online, but to no avail. Does anyone know any background info about this??? It's been driving me crazy. Thanks for any and all responses!!!:nurse:

[estherojin]

In the Electrophysiology lab, the MDs used 40/40. From what I heard, the general recommendation is to use the lowest power setting as possible. I do remember that on our older units, we had to crank up the power to get it to where our MDs wanted.

check this website out, you might find something helpful. it helped me understand how cautery worked.

http://www.valleylabeducation.org/index.html

[jenrninmi, MSN, RN]

We use 40/40 for our c-sections

[mimmy]

We use 50/50 for our c/s

[littlepeach]

some docs use 30/30, some use 40/40, but never higher.

[Jill10191130]

In the facility I worked before we used 45/45 and in the one where I work now we use 50/50.

[LDRNMOMMY, BSN, RN]

40/40 Where I used to work. I had to turn it up to 50/50 in the middle of a C/S per M.D. request.