Premium
An Audit of All Waste Leaving the Operating Room: Can the Surgical Suite Be More Environmentally Sustainable?
Author(s) -
Rammelkamp Zoe,
Dirnberger Jane,
Johnson George,
Waisbren Steven
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
world medical and health policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.326
H-Index - 11
ISSN - 1948-4682
DOI - 10.1002/wmh3.397
Subject(s) - greenhouse gas , audit , medical waste , waste management , sustainability , business , suite , cleaner production , environmental science , operations management , municipal solid waste , engineering , accounting , history , ecology , archaeology , biology
Climate change negatively impacts human health, and yet the healthcare industry is one of the largest generators of waste and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A significant portion of these GHG emissions comes from the production, transport, and disposal of medical equipment, ultimately becoming waste. Within the hospital, about 30 percent of waste is generated in the operating room (OR). The purpose of this study was to determine how much waste was leaving the OR. Two 5‐day OR audits at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Service found that 231.3 kg of total waste was generated per day, of which 84.5, 8.83, 2.79, and 3.88 percent were general, recyclable, biohazard, and blue wrap waste, respectively. By studying the amounts and types of waste that different hospitals produce, a systems‐approach could be applied to waste reduction in the OR and effect policy change that would promote environmental sustainability in the hospital setting.