A Survey of Single-Use and Reusable Surgical and Anaesthetic Devices in Victorian Public Health Services

To understand the adoption of reusable surgical and anaesthetic devices across public hospital operating suites and recovery areas in Victoria.

Snapshot audit of procurement data of common medical devices utilised in operating theatres that are available as either reusable or single-use devices. A list of 49 common medical devices was created, and the usage data were obtained through surveys conducted by remote interviews of procurement or theatre staff between August 2024 and January 2025. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise data. Nine public health networks (i.e., 14 hospitals) were surveyed, comprising 121 operating theatres and 21 endoscopy/procedure rooms.

Eight out of nine (89%) metropolitan public health services in Victoria use mostly single-use surgical and anaesthetic devices in the operating theatre. Of the 49 surgical and anaesthetic devices surveyed, 46/49 (94%) had a reusable alternative available at a minimum of one of the nine health services surveyed. Five of 16 (31%) anaesthetic devices, 15/27 (56%) surgical devices, and 2/7 (29%) recovery room devices had a reusable alternative available. The average hospital adoption of surveyed reusable devices across all sites was 22/49 (45%).

Most (8/9) public health services in Melbourne surveyed utilise mostly single-use devices in perioperative settings. This audit provides a snapshot where reusable alternatives are available to influence future procurement. As the Victorian healthcare system rapidly transitions to renewable energy sources of electricity, there are considerable procurement opportunities to reduce scope three greenhouse gas emissions from healthcare.