Environmental Impact and Cost Savings of Operating Room Quality Improvement Initiatives: A Scoping Review.
J Am Coll Surg
; 236(2): 411-423, 2023 02 01.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36648269
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Operating rooms are major contributors to a hospital's carbon footprint due to the large volumes of resources consumed and waste produced. The objective of this study was to identify quality improvement initiatives that aimed to reduce the environmental impact of the operating room while decreasing costs. STUDYDESIGN:
A literature search was performed using PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, and Google Scholar and included broad terms for "operating room," "costs," and "environment" or "sustainability." The "triple bottom line" framework, which considers the environmental, financial, and social impacts of interventions to guide decision making, was used to inform data extraction. The studies were then categorized using the 5 "Rs" of sustainability-refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle-and the impacts were discussed using the triple bottom line framework.RESULTS:
A total of 23 unique quality improvement initiatives describing 28 interventions were included. Interventions were categorized as "refuse" (n = 11; 39.3%), "reduce" (n = 8; 28.6%), "reuse" (n = 3; 10.7%), and "recycle" (n = 6; 21.4%). While methods of measuring environmental impact and cost savings varied greatly among studies, potential annual cost savings ranged from $873 (intervention education on diverting recyclable materials from sharps containers; environmental impact 11.4 kg sharps waste diverted per month) to $694,141 (intervention education to reduce regulated medical waste; environmental impact 30% reduction in regulated medical waste).CONCLUSIONS:
Quality improvement initiatives that reduce both cost and environmental impact have been successfully implemented across a variety of centers both nationally and globally. Surgeons, healthcare practitioners, and administrators interested in environmental stewardship and working toward a culture of sustainability may consider similar interventions in their institutions.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Contexto en salud:
1_ASSA2030
/
2_ODS3
Problema de salud:
1_financiamento_saude
/
2_quimicos_contaminacion
Asunto principal:
Quirófanos
/
Residuos Sanitarios
Tipo de estudio:
Health_economic_evaluation
/
Systematic_reviews
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Am Coll Surg
Asunto de la revista:
GINECOLOGIA
/
OBSTETRICIA
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article