scholarly journals Design Opportunities to Reduce Waste in Operating Rooms

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2207
Author(s):  
Charlotte Harding ◽  
Joren Van Loon ◽  
Ingrid Moons ◽  
Gunter De Win ◽  
Els Du Bois
Keyword(s):  
Operating Room ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Operating Rooms ◽  
Medical Waste ◽  
Waste Reduction ◽  
Infrastructure Management ◽  
Expert Interviews ◽  
Hospital Waste ◽  
Observation Results ◽  
Taking Care

While taking care of the population’s health, hospitals generate mountains of waste, which in turn causes a hazard to the environment of the population. The operating room is responsible for a disproportionately big amount of hospital waste. This research aims to investigate waste creation in the operating room in order to identify design opportunities to support waste reduction according to the circular economy. Eight observations and five expert interviews were conducted in a large sized hospital. The hospital’s waste infrastructure, management, and sterilization department were mapped out. Findings are that washable towels and operation instruments are reused; paper, cardboard, and specific fabric are being recycled; and (non-)hazardous medical waste is being incinerated. Observation results and literature findings are largely comparable, stating that covering sheets of the operation bed, sterile clothing, sterile packaging, and department-specific products are as well the most used and discarded. The research also identified two waste hotspots: the logistical packaging (tertiary, secondary, and primary) of products and incorrect sorting between hazardous and non-hazardous medical waste. Design opportunities include optimization of recycling and increased use of reusables. Reuse is the preferred method, more specifically by exploring the possibilities of reuse of textiles, consumables, and packaging.

The Green Operating Room: Simple Changes to Reduce Cost and Our Carbon Footprint

2013 ◽  
Vol 79 (7) ◽  
pp. 666-671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blair A. Wormer ◽  
Vedra A. Augenstein ◽  
Christin L. Carpenter ◽  
Patrick V. Burton ◽  
William T. Yokeley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solid Waste ◽  
Operating Room ◽  
The United States ◽  
Medical Waste ◽  
Waste Reduction ◽  
Corporate Leadership ◽  
Potential Saving ◽  
Single Use ◽  
Significant Opportunity ◽  
Improve Health

Generating over four billion pounds of waste each year, the healthcare system in the United States is the second largest contributor of trash with one-third produced by operating rooms. Our objective is to assess improvement in waste reduction and recycling after implementation of a Green Operating Room Committee (GORC) at our institution. A surgeon and nurse-initiated GORC was formed with members from corporate leadership, nursing, anesthesia, and OR staff. Initiatives for recycling opportunities, reduction of energy and water use as well as solid waste were implemented and the results were recorded. Since formation of GORC in 2008, our OR has diverted 6.5 tons of medical waste. An effort to recycle all single-use devices was implemented with annual solid waste reduction of approximately 12,860 lbs. Disposable OR foam padding was replaced with reusable gel pads at greater than $50,000 per year savings. Over 500 lbs of previously discarded batteries were salvaged from the OR and donated to charity or redistributed in the hospital ($9,000 annual savings). A “Power Down” initiative to turn off all anesthesia and OR lights and equipment not in use resulted in saving $33,000 and 234.3 metric tons of CO2 emissions reduced per year. Converting from soap to alcohol-based waterless scrub demonstrated a potential saving of 2.7 million liters of water annually. Formation of an OR committee dedicated to ecological initiatives can provide a significant opportunity to improve health care's impact on the environment and save money.

Smart practices in HEIs and the contribution to the SDGs: implementation in Brazilian university

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liane Dalla Gasperina ◽  
Janaina Mazutti ◽  
Luciana Londero Brandli ◽  
Roberto dos Santos Rabello
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Waste Reduction ◽  
Infrastructure Management ◽  
University Campus ◽  
Southern Brazil ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainability Research ◽  
Development Goals

Purpose Smart campuses can be seen as the future of higher education efforts, especially for their contributions to sustainability and to encourage innovation. This paper aims to present the benefits of smart practices in a Higher Education Institutions and highlights its connections to the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Design/methodology/approach The methodology is divided into three steps: first, an international search and assessment of smart practices at universities; second, the identification of smart practices in a university campus in southern Brazil; and third, the presentation of the benefits of smart practices and their relationship with the SDGs. Findings The results showed that globally, the area most covered by smart practices in universities is the environment and, specifically, focused on waste reduction. in the context of this case study, the benefits of implementing smart practices mainly reach SDGs 4 and SDG 9, especially due to aspects of teaching technologies for the new classroom models and the optimization of campus infrastructure management. Practical implications The study encourages other universities to implement smart practices in their campuses, to becoming smart campuses while they also collaborate in achieving the SDGs while raising the discussion on the importance of committed actions taken on a university campus with the UN SDGs, to leverage synergies on campus operations at universities. Originality/value This paper presents a set of smart practices that universities are applying both globally and locally (in southern Brazil). In addition, it contributes to sustainability research by showing how smart practices have the potential to promote SDGs in universities, especially through campus operations.

scholarly journals Innovative Ventilation Technology for Operating Rooms

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 243-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Gruber ◽  
Sebastian Buhl ◽  
Clemens Bulitta
Keyword(s):  
Operating Room ◽  
Clinical Setting ◽  
Bacterial Contamination ◽  
Ventilation System ◽  
Operating Rooms ◽  
Operating Theatre ◽  
Experimental Setting ◽  
Bacterial Burden

AbstractThe purpose of this work was to evaluate the decontamination potential of the Potok system both in an experimental setting in a research Operating Room (OR) with standalone Air Decontamination Units (Potok 150-M-01) and in a clinical setting in a real operating theatre in Moscow. Our experiments showed an impact of the Potok units on the bacterial contamination of the room air according to the Swedish SIS-TS 39:2015 standard. For the initial measurements in our research OR in Weiden this could be shown by a decrease of the bacterial burden at all three different measurement points (OR table, instrumentation tray, periphery). Also the subsequently done measurements in the Moscow hospital verified this decontaminating effectivity of the Potok system. In this case the initial background contamination of the operating theatre was higher than in the research OR in Germany. This bacterial burden could be effectively decreased by the use of the installed Potok based ventilation system.

Simulation Modeling of the Operating Room Based on SIMIO

2010 ◽  
Vol 37-38 ◽  
pp. 1162-1166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Zheng ◽  
Sai Feng Chen ◽  
Jie Shen ◽  
Ze Qing Liu ◽  
Kai Fang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Simulation Model ◽  
Operating Room ◽  
Simulation Modeling ◽  
Operating Rooms ◽  
Simulation Platform ◽  
Rational Utilization ◽  
Model Case ◽  
Satisfactory Degree

Operating rooms (OR) is one of the most demanding department in hospital. OR’s process will directly influence the profits of hospital as well as the patients' satisfactory degree. On the condition of a complex cooperation of ORs with variations, simulation has its advantage on solving problems. From the perspective point of rational utilization of resources, the simulation modeling of OR in big hospital by a latest simulation platform – SIMIO is proposed. The modeling objects and the logic underline are studied, and a simulation model case is presented.

scholarly journals Description of healthcare professionals’ attitudes on patient safety in the Tunisian operating rooms

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
M A Tlili ◽  
H Sayeh ◽  
W Aouicha ◽  
M Souki ◽  
E Taghouti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Patient Safety ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Operating Room ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
Participation Rate ◽  
Operating Rooms ◽  
Teaching Hospitals ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Surgical Safety ◽  
Work Units

Abstract Background Currently, ensuring surgical safety remain a worldwide challenge. The description of operating room professionals' attitudes toward patient safety in their work units helps to identify strengths and weaknesses in term of patient safety, allowing a clearer vision of the safety aspects that require special attention. This study aimed to describe healthcare professionals' attitudes on patient safety in the Tunisian operating rooms. Methods This is a cross-sectional descriptive study spread over a 6-month period (October-April 2018). It was conducted among healthcare professionals working in the operating rooms of the two teaching hospitals of Sousse (Tunisia). The measuring instrument used is the Operating Room Management Attitudes Questionnaire (ORMAQ), which consists of 60 items spread over 8 dimensions. The latter has been subjected to a transcultural validation process inspired from the Vallerand method. Data entry and analysis was done by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS.20) software. Results A total of 303 professionals participated in the study (participation rate= 76.13%). The most developed dimension was teamwork and the least developed was “Procedural errors/ compliance”. Items' results show that 94.8% of professionals confirmed that seniors should encourage medical and paramedical staff to ask questions, 53.5% of professionals stated that personal problems can adversely affect their performance and 87.5% agreed that operating rooms' team members share responsibilities for prioritizing activities in high workload situations. In addition, 50.9% of participants reported that the managers don't listen to staff or care about their concerns. Conclusions Operating rooms professionals' attitudes toward patient safety in their work units reflect an alarming situation regarding the quality of healthcare provided to patients. These results should be taken into consideration to guide future intervention on quality management improvement. Key messages Considering human factors is essential to improve safety in operating rooms and has an important role in reducing the occurrence of adverse events in these settings. It is important to study the underlying attitudes that determine the human factors for a better understanding and resolution of patient safety problems.

Sequential Kidney Exchange

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence M. Ausubel ◽  
Thayer Morrill
Keyword(s):  
Organ Donation ◽  
Operating Room ◽  
Incentive Compatibility ◽  
Operating Rooms ◽  
Kidney Exchange ◽  
Basic Insight

The traditional literature on kidney exchange assumes that all components of the exchange must occur simultaneously. Unfortunately, the number of operating rooms required for concurrent surgeries poses a significant constraint on the beneficial exchanges that may be attained. The basic insight of this paper is that incentive compatibility does not require simultaneous exchange; rather, it requires that organ donation occurs no later than the associated organ receipt. Using sequential exchanges may relax the operating room constraint and thereby increase the number of beneficial exchanges. We show that most benefits of sequential exchange can be accomplished with only two concurrent operating rooms. (JEL D47, I11)

Coping among nurses of the operating room and recovery room

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 823
Author(s):  
Laura De Azevedo Guido ◽  
Estela Regina Ferraz Bianchi ◽  
Graciele Fernanda da Costa Linch
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Operating Room ◽  
Recovery Room ◽  
Descriptive Study ◽  
Operating Rooms ◽  
Quantitative Approach ◽  
Stress Adaptation ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Level Of Significance

Objective: to indentify the coping strategies used by nurses of the Operating Room and Recovery Room. Methods: this is a descriptive study, from quantitative approach. Data was collected by inventory of coping strategies of Lazarus and Folkman, which includes thoughts and actions used to deal with external or internal demands of a particular stressor, centralizing in the use of strategies for coping. The results were verified as statistically significant or not, stablishing the level of significance of 5%. Results: it was found that the confrontation and overcoming of stress in the workplace, converged for the pleasure and satisfaction of nurses. As the process is understood as an interactive model, in wich the relations between person and workplace interact constantly, it becomes evident that the adaptation of the human being to the different stress situations is necessary so that the adequate coping happens. Conclusion: it is concluded that the strategy used by nurses was more problem-solving and less used, the removal. Descriptors: stress; adaptation psychological; operating rooms.

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