Treating Patients With Smallpox in the Operating Room

• RECENT EVENTS around the world have emphasized the need for health care facilities to prepare to deal with biological threats, including smallpox. • AT WALTER REED Army Medical Center, Washington, DC, administrators recognized the need for a policy on handling patients with smallpox in the OR and asked a group of students to create a template policy for care of patients with smallpox in need of surgery. • THIS ARTICLE provides a brief history of smallpox, concerns surrounding smallpox today, and smallpox characteristics with which perioperative personnel should be familiar, as well as a guideline for treating patients in the OR who have smallpox. AORN J 80 (October 2004) 681–689