Water conservation in surgery: a comparison of two surgical scrub techniques demonstrating the amount of water saved using a 'taps on/taps off' technique.

OBJECTIVE

Australia finds itself in the grip of its worst drought on record. The surgical profession has a responsibility to conserve water where possible. We tried to show how much water we saved through the simple measure of turning taps off while not in use during the surgical scrub.

DESIGN

We conducted a prospective analysis of two different scrub techniques at the Gold Coast Hospital in Queensland, Australia. Ten participants completed two 5-min scrubs using standard 'elbow on' taps. In the first, they left the taps running throughout the scrub; in the second, they turned the taps on and off so that water ran only when rinsing the hands. Water was collected and the amount of time the hands spent under running water was recorded.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE

Amount of water used during the surgical scrub.

RESULTS

A mean of 15.5 L was used during the 'taps on' scrub, with participants spending a mean of 47 s rinsing the hands. During the 'taps on/off' scrub, participants used a mean of 4.5 L, spending 40 s rinsing the hands. This represents a water saving of 11 L or 71% for each scrub (P < 0.001). There was a difference of 7 s in time rinsing the hands (P = 0.16).

CONCLUSION

A taps on/off technique is a simple and effective way of conserving large amounts of water during the surgical scrub. The technique should be adopted as standard practice.