Eco-Friendly and COVID-19 Friendly? Decreasing the Carbon Footprint of the Operating Room in the COVID-19 Era

Author:

Tsagkaris Christos1ORCID,Saeed Hamayle2,Laubscher Lily3,Eleftheriades Anna4ORCID,Stavros Sofoklis5,Drakaki Eirini5,Potiris Anastasios5ORCID,Panagiotopoulos Dimitrios5,Sioutis Dimos5,Panagopoulos Periklis5,Zil-E-Ali Ahsan6

Affiliation:

1. Public Health and Policy Working Group, Stg European Student Think Tank, Postjeskade 29, 1058 DE Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2. Fatima Memorial Hospital College of Medicine & Dentistry, Lahore 54000, Pakistan

3. Department of Health Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland

4. Faculty of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 115 27 Athens, Greece

5. 3rd Department of Ob/Gyn, Attikon University Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 124 62 Athens, Greece

6. Department of Heart and Vascular Institute, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033, USA

Abstract

Surgery is one of the most energy-intensive branches of healthcare. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced surgical volumes, infection control protocols have increased the ecological footprint of surgery owing to the extensive use of personal protective equipment, sanitation, testing and isolation resources. The burden of environmental diseases requiring surgical care, the international commitment towards environmental sustainability and the global efforts to return to the pre-pandemic surgical workflow call for action towards climate-friendly surgery. The authors have searched the peer-reviewed and gray literature for clinical studies, reports and guidelines related to the ecological footprint of surgical care and the available solutions and frameworks to reduce it. Numerous studies concede that surgery is associated with a high rate of energy utilization and waste generation that is comparable to major non-medical sources of pollution. Recommendations and research questions outlining environmentally sustainable models of surgical practices span from sanitation and air quality improvement systems to the allocation of non-recyclable consumables and energy-efficient surgical planning. The latter are particularly relevant to infection control protocols for COVID-19. Paving the way towards climate-friendly surgery is a worthy endeavor with a major potential to improve surgical practice and outcomes in the long term.

Publisher

MDPI AG

Subject

General Medicine

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1. The role of artificial intelligence in enhancing surgical precision and outcomes;IP Journal of Surgery and Allied Sciences;2024-09-15

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