Entries tagged with 'waste'

Displaying all 7 entries

  1. Case study and how-to guide: reduce, re-use, recycle in the dialysis unit

    The three case studies outlined here show that the principles most commonly used to underpin waste reduction strategies – reduce, reuse, recycle – can be successfully applied to renal units, and that financial savings can be made. Applying these strategies can be remarkably simple, and the repetitive nature of the dialysis treatments means that the benefits are continually accrued. The final part of this ‘How to…’ guide describes how to undertake a waste audit, which will allow individual units to identify where best to focus their attention. Green Nephrology programme 2009-10.

    from The Campaign for Greener Healthcare on 16 April 2010 | Download | Comment on this

  2. Commentary: A Call to Go Green in Health Care by Reprocessing Medical Equipment

    Kwakye, Gifty; Pronovost, Peter J.; Makary, Martin A. Academic Medicine. 85(3):398-400, March 2010. doi:10.1097/ACM.0b013e3181cd5a71 . Health care is one of the largest contributors to waste production in the United States. Given increased awareness of the environmental and financial costs associated with waste disposal and its public health impact, many hospitals are adopting environmentally friendly practices that reduce waste production and offer equally effective, yet less expensive alternatives. Reprocessing of medical equipment is one such practice that has gained popularity in recent years and has led to major cost savings across several medical disciplines. In this commentary, we seek to take a closer look at the practice of reprocessing, explore the evidence surrounding its safety, and suggest implications of reprocessing for medical centers. (C) 2010 Association of American Medical Colleges

    from SHEBA on 05 March 2010 | Direct link | Comment on this

  3. Reprocessed Single-Use Medical Devices

    FDA Oversight Has Increased, and Available Information Does Not Indicate That Use Presents an Elevated Health Risk. United States Government Accountability Office Report to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives

    from SHEBA on 01 January 2008 | Download | Comment on this

  4. The nipper mountain: Impact of policy to manage theoretical vCJD risk costs dear to the environment

    Recent policy direction aimed at preventing transmission of prions has increased the standards required for decontamination of surgical instruments. These standards cover facilities, processes and staff training for those reprocessing surgical instruments. Many existing hospital-based decontamination suites which have been unable to meet the new facilities requirements have been replaced by large industrial-scale facilities. The risk of death from iatrogenic vCJD from 2005 has been about 1 in 10,000,000 per year. This article explores the rationale behind this application of risk management, and its wider environmental, social and economic impacts. It concludes that the current policies are causing more harm, than they are preventing, in that they directly generate carbon emissions, and therefore contributing to climate change. By Julie Hotchkiss FFPH, Consultant in Public Health, Ashton, Leigh & Wigan PCT.

    from SHEBA on 06 November 2009 | Download | Comment on this

  5. The precautionary principle: what is the risk of reusing disposable drops in routine ophthalmology consultations and what are the costs of reducing this risk to zero?

    Instilling eye drops is a ubiquitous procedure in eye clinics. This audit aimed to assess the risk of contamination of disposable droppers and to quantify the financial and waste implications of reducing this risk to zero by using disposable droppers only once. CONCLUSION: Reducing the risk of dropper contamination and subsequent cross infection has financial and environmental costs. As exposure to coagulase-negative staphylococcus is not necessarily associated with infection, it would be useful to decide acceptable risk levels for a given cost to maximise both cost-effectiveness and patient safety. Somner JE, Cavanagh DJ, Wong KK, Whitelaw M, Thomson T, Mansfield D. Eye. 2009 Jun 12. [Epub ahead of print]

    from SHEBA on 12 June 2009 | Direct link | Comment on this

  6. Pathway to Zero Waste

    Pathway To Zero Waste is a major transformation programme combined with market and infrastructure development.

    from The South East England Development Agency on 31 May 2009 | Direct link | Comment on this

  7. Waste Strategy Annual Progress Report 2007/08

    The Government published the Waste Strategy Annual Progress Report 2007/08 on 10 July 2008. This report presents an overview on progress made in the last year on the actions set in the Waste Strategy for England 2007 (WS2007). It highlights what has been

    from Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on 29 May 2009 | Direct link | Comment on this