The journal of climate change and health · 2025
Reducing regulated medical waste: A roadmap for process improvement.
СтатьяНазвание и аннотация: Перевод пока не подготовлен
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Niino Clarissa A, Meyer Raanan, John Catherine, Wright Kelly
Аннотация
INTRODUCTION: The United States is a major producer of medical waste. While the recommended standard percentage of Regulated Medical Waste (RMW) in health care facilities is 15% or less of overall waste, up to 70% of healthcare waste is disposed of as RMW, a third of which comes from the operating room.
METHODS: We implemented a month long process change in the operating rooms at a high volume, urban hospital, with the goal of reducing the amount of operating room RMW production. This intervention involved education of staff and reducing RMW receptacles to one per room. Additionally, we created a roadmap to guide scalable implementation of this process change.
RESULTS: Following the intervention, the median amount of RMW produced decreased significantly, from 19.11 tons to 7.44 tons per month. The percentage of monthly RMW of total waste decreased from 39.8% to 16.61%. The median cost of RMW disposal dropped from $17,537.52, or 77.06% of total waste cost to $6401.14, or 49.21% per month following the intervention. We also found a decrease in the median monthly total cost of waste disposal from $23,049.33 to $13,354.94.
CONCLUSION: RMW can be reduced by process changes that alter the convenience of operating room waste disposal. These changes have the potential to reduce healthcare's carbon footprint, save thousands of dollars in disposal fees, and pave the way for other earth friendly initiatives.
METHODS: We implemented a month long process change in the operating rooms at a high volume, urban hospital, with the goal of reducing the amount of operating room RMW production. This intervention involved education of staff and reducing RMW receptacles to one per room. Additionally, we created a roadmap to guide scalable implementation of this process change.
RESULTS: Following the intervention, the median amount of RMW produced decreased significantly, from 19.11 tons to 7.44 tons per month. The percentage of monthly RMW of total waste decreased from 39.8% to 16.61%. The median cost of RMW disposal dropped from $17,537.52, or 77.06% of total waste cost to $6401.14, or 49.21% per month following the intervention. We also found a decrease in the median monthly total cost of waste disposal from $23,049.33 to $13,354.94.
CONCLUSION: RMW can be reduced by process changes that alter the convenience of operating room waste disposal. These changes have the potential to reduce healthcare's carbon footprint, save thousands of dollars in disposal fees, and pave the way for other earth friendly initiatives.