Major U.S. hospitals collectively throw away at least $15 million in unused operating room surgical supplies, according to researchers from Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins Medicine.
A key source of the nearly 2 million pounds of discarded materials is bundled surgical materials. Bundled materials can streamline OR efficiency and readiness, but any unused materials in the bundle must be thrown away after the package is opened, according to the researchers.
Researchers calculated these estimates based on a program called Supporting Hospitals Abroad with Resources and Equipment that delivers unused surgical supplies from The Johns Hopkins Hospital to two surgical centers in Ecuador.
They tracked 19 high-demand surgical items donated to the hospitals in Ecuador over three years and extrapolated that information to 232 U.S. hospitals that have a similar caseload to The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Researchers suggest such programs offer a win-win situation; U.S. hospitals reduce their economic and environmental burden while hospitals lacking resources benefit from "perfectly good, entirely sterile" supplies.
"Saving and shipping these materials is truly a low-hanging fruit enterprise, a simple strategy that could have a dramatic impact on surgical outcomes and public health in resource-poor settings and truly change people's lives," said Richard Redett, MD, a pediatric plastic and reconstructive surgeon at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center who has led Johns Hopkins donation program since 2003.
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