Greene V W
Infect Control. 1986 Oct;7(10):508-13. doi: 10.1017/s0195941700065140.
The "plastics revolution" of the last quarter century disrupted a hospital tradition. Since the 1890s, hospitals processed, packaged, and sterilized most of the medical-surgical items they needed in their own sterile supply departments--a "cottage industry" developed specifically for recycling. Only those consumable items that were too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient to reprocess were purchased from outside manufacturers as presterilized, single-use "disposables." Since the plastics revolution, however, the "disposables" started to displace the "reusables," and while claiming to be an economical innovation, have become a significant item in the budget. Some hospitals feel that if disposables save money, reusing the disposable several times will save more. The practice is spreading. The manufacturers, in turn, claim that hospitals do not have adequate quality assurance programs or skills to reprocess their items properly. The debate is further complicated by legal and ethical ramifications, as well as commercial and economic arguments.
过去四分之一世纪的“塑料革命”打破了医院的一项传统。自19世纪90年代以来，医院在自己的无菌供应部门处理、包装和消毒它们所需的大部分医疗手术用品——这是专门为回收利用发展起来的一种“家庭手工业”。只有那些再处理过于困难、昂贵或不便的消耗品才从外部制造商那里购买，作为预消毒的一次性“一次性用品”。然而，自塑料革命以来，“一次性用品”开始取代“可重复使用用品”，尽管声称是一项经济创新，但已成为预算中的一项重要开支。一些医院认为，如果一次性用品能省钱，多次重复使用一次性用品会节省更多。这种做法正在蔓延。反过来，制造商声称医院没有足够的质量保证计划或技能来正确地再处理他们的用品。法律和道德影响以及商业和经济争论使这场辩论更加复杂。
