TY - JOUR
T1 - Reducing Disposable Surgical Items
T2 - Decreasing Environmental Impact and Costs at a Children's Hospital, A Pilot Study
AU - Cunningham, Aaron J.
AU - Krakauer, Kelsi
AU - Schofield, Corie
AU - Kenron, Daniel
AU - Krishnaswami, Sanjay
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2023/8
Y1 - 2023/8
N2 - Introduction: United States landfill waste generated in the operating room (OR) is estimated to be three billion tons per year. The goal of this study was to analyze the environmental and fiscal impact of right-sizing surgical supplies at a medium-sized children's hospital using lean methodology to reduce physical waste generated in the operating room. Methods: A multidisciplinary task force was created to reduce waste in the OR of an academic children's hospital. A single-center case study, proof-of-concept, and scalability analysis of operative waste reduction was performed. Surgical packs were identified as a target. Pack utilization was monitored during an initial pilot analysis for 12 d then followed by a focused 3-week period, capturing all unused items by participating surgical services. Items discarded in more than 85% of cases were excluded in subsequent preformed packs. Results: Pilot review identified 46 items in 113 procedures for removal from surgical packs. Subsequent 3-week analysis focusing on two surgical services, and 359 procedures identified a potential $1,111.88 savings with elimination of minimally used items. Over 1 y, removal of all minimally used items from seven surgical services diverted two tons of plastic landfill waste, saved $27,503 in surgical pack acquisition-costs, and prevented the theoretical loss of $13,824 in wasted supplies. Additional purchasing analysis has resulted in another $70,000 of savings through supply chain streamlining. Application of this process nationally could prevent >6000 tons of waste in the United States per year. Conclusions: Application of a simple iterative process to reduce waste in the OR can result in substantial waste diversion and cost savings. Broad adoption of such a process to reduce OR waste could greatly reduce the environmental impact of surgical care.
AB - Introduction: United States landfill waste generated in the operating room (OR) is estimated to be three billion tons per year. The goal of this study was to analyze the environmental and fiscal impact of right-sizing surgical supplies at a medium-sized children's hospital using lean methodology to reduce physical waste generated in the operating room. Methods: A multidisciplinary task force was created to reduce waste in the OR of an academic children's hospital. A single-center case study, proof-of-concept, and scalability analysis of operative waste reduction was performed. Surgical packs were identified as a target. Pack utilization was monitored during an initial pilot analysis for 12 d then followed by a focused 3-week period, capturing all unused items by participating surgical services. Items discarded in more than 85% of cases were excluded in subsequent preformed packs. Results: Pilot review identified 46 items in 113 procedures for removal from surgical packs. Subsequent 3-week analysis focusing on two surgical services, and 359 procedures identified a potential $1,111.88 savings with elimination of minimally used items. Over 1 y, removal of all minimally used items from seven surgical services diverted two tons of plastic landfill waste, saved $27,503 in surgical pack acquisition-costs, and prevented the theoretical loss of $13,824 in wasted supplies. Additional purchasing analysis has resulted in another $70,000 of savings through supply chain streamlining. Application of this process nationally could prevent >6000 tons of waste in the United States per year. Conclusions: Application of a simple iterative process to reduce waste in the OR can result in substantial waste diversion and cost savings. Broad adoption of such a process to reduce OR waste could greatly reduce the environmental impact of surgical care.
KW - Green operating room
KW - Lean methodology
KW - Quality improvement
KW - Waste reduction
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jss.2023.02.035
DO - 10.1016/j.jss.2023.02.035
M3 - Article
C2 - 37058987
AN - SCOPUS:85152129156
SN - 0022-4804
VL - 288
SP - 309
EP - 314
JO - Journal of Surgical Research
JF - Journal of Surgical Research
ER -