Surgical Hand Antisepsis: Environmental and Cost Impact in Hand Surgery.

Health care systems, including operating rooms, are a considerable contributor to environmental waste. Given ongoing concerns regarding water scarcity in the United States and worldwide, action to reduce water utilization should be taken. Traditional water-based hand scrubbing wastes an estimated 11 L of water per scrub. Waterless hand rubbing with an alcohol-based solution has been shown to be as effective as traditional water-based hand scrubbing in surgical hand antisepsis and in preventing surgical site infections. Furthermore, alcohol-based rubbing results in less waste and reduced costs when compared with water-based hand scrubbing. The hand surgery operating room, including minor procedure rooms, serves as an opportunity to decrease water use and reduce the environmental impact of our field. Waterless alcohol-based hand rubbing for antisepsis may also be an opportunity to save money and provide value-based care to our patients.

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2024 American Society for Surgery of the Hand. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

Conflicts of Interest Dr R. Glenn Gaston has Biomet IP royalties, is paid consultant for Hanger Clinic, Integra, Restor3d, Stryker, Checkpoint Surgical, Enovis and is also a Board/committee member of American Association for Hand Surgery and American Society for Surgery of the Hand. No benefits in any form have been received or will be received by other authors related directly to this article.