Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Urogynecology (Phila). 2024 Feb 1;30(2):132-137. doi: 10.1097/SPV.0000000000001393. Epub 2023 Jul 4.
The health care industry is a leading contributor to solid waste in the United States, and two thirds of a hospital's regulated medical waste is produced from surgery.
The primary objective was to assess the utilization of single-use disposable supplies during suburethral sling cases.
We observed suburethral sling plus cystoscopy procedures at an academic medical center. Cases with concomitant procedures were excluded. Our primary outcome was the quantity of wasted supplies, defined as disposable supplies that were opened at the start of the procedure and were unused. Secondarily, we quantified those supplies in both weight and United States dollars. In a subset of cases, we obtained the weight of the total amount of trash generated from the procedure.
A total of 20 cases were observed. Most frequently wasted items included an emesis basin, large ring basin, and rectangle plastic tray. Redundant supplies wasted included a 1-L sterile water bottle and, on average, 2.73 (SD, 2.34) blue towels. The sum of the weight of the wasted items among cases was 1.33 lb, associated with $9.50. The average total amount of trash produced from 11 cases was 14.13 lb (SD, 2.27). Removal of the most frequently wasted items would achieve a 9.4% reduction in solid waste produced by the case.
A large waste burden per surgical case was produced by a minor procedure. Removal of frequently wasted items, a reduced number of towels, and smaller cystoscopy fluid bags are simple strategies that would decrease overall waste production.
医疗保健行业是美国固体废弃物的主要来源之一，医院三分之二的受管制医疗废物来自手术。
主要目的是评估在尿道下吊带手术中一次性使用耗材的使用情况。
我们观察了一家学术医疗中心的尿道下吊带加膀胱镜检查程序。排除了同时进行的程序的病例。我们的主要结果是浪费的供应品数量，定义为在手术开始时打开且未使用的一次性供应品。其次，我们以重量和美元为单位量化了这些供应品。在一些病例中，我们获得了该程序产生的总垃圾量的重量。
共观察了 20 例。最常浪费的物品包括呕吐盆、大环盆和长方形塑料托盘。浪费的多余供应品包括 1 升无菌水瓶，平均浪费 2.73（SD，2.34）个蓝色毛巾。20 例中浪费物品的总重量为 1.33 磅，价值 9.50 美元。11 例产生的垃圾平均总量为 14.13 磅（SD，2.27）。
一个小手术就产生了大量的手术废物。去除最常浪费的物品、减少毛巾数量和使用较小的膀胱镜冲洗液袋是减少整体废物产生的简单策略。
