Operating room waste reduction in plastic and hand surgery

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Surgical Waste Reduction
• Environmental Sustainability in Hospitals

Background:

• Operating rooms (ORs) and labor/delivery suites generate substantial hospital waste, approximately 70%.
• While hospital-wide recycling benefits are known, OR-specific financial impacts remain undemonstrated.
• Reducing surgical waste is crucial for hospital cost-efficiency and environmental stewardship.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a cost-reduction strategy for operating rooms.
• Focus on optimizing instrument/supply selection and implementing recycling in plastic and hand surgery.
• Quantify financial savings from waste reduction initiatives.

Main Methods:

• Identified and eliminated routinely opened, unused disposable supplies/instruments in plastic and hand surgery.
• Conducted cost analysis comparing OR waste expenses with single-stream recycling.
• Assessed savings from recycling HIPAA documents and blue wrap.

Main Results:

• Removed 15 items from plastic surgery packs and 7 from hand surgery packs, yielding annual savings of $17,381.05.
• Single-stream recycling initiative resulted in average monthly savings of $3,487 across three campuses.
• Projected minimum annual savings of $41,844 based on current recycling rates.

Conclusions:

• Operating room waste reduction is an effective cost-containment strategy in surgical settings.
• Revising disposable pack and instrument set contents minimizes opened, unused materials.
• Judicious selection of supplies and recycling implementation offer significant financial and environmental benefits.