Is environmental sustainability compatible with patient safety?

Clinicians and operating room staff are concerned about the day-to-day safety and efficiency of the operating room, but the operating room is a contributor to climate change and its associated detrimental effects on public health.

Operating rooms use a significant amount of energy and produce 33% of hospital waste. Small modifications to clinical practice can reduce environmental impact without adversely affecting patient safety. Removing desflurane from clinical practice can reduce emission of gases associated with climate change. Using the lowest safe fresh gas flows and installing volatile anesthetic capture systems can also help to mitigate the environmental impact of anesthesia. Total intravenous anesthesia or intravenous anesthesia combined with a reduced volatile anesthetic concentration may reduce environmental impact, but the impacts of intravenous anesthetic agents must also be considered. Disinfecting and reprocessing durable supplies instead of using disposable equipment and soft goods may reduce the amount of solid waste generated during surgery without increasing the risk of contamination or infection.

A better understanding of the environmental impacts of current practice can facilitate the development of new techniques and materials to improve the sustainability of anesthesia care without affecting patient safety.