Greener ORs: Keys to making the business case
Perioperative staff and managers face a variety of pressures: improving processes, enhancing patient outcomes, documenting savings, meeting regulations, and more, all in a time of tighter budgets. With so much to balance, it can be difficult to consider (much less sell to upper management) the idea of greening the operating…
Untangling pharmaceutical waste requirements
There’s general agreement that keeping unused pharmaceuticals out of the nation’s water supply is a good idea. But figuring out how to comply with the tangle of regulations governing unused pharmaceuticals isn’t easy. How intensely your facility is involved in managing pharmaceutical waste likely depends on how active US Environmental…
HVAC setback: Saving energy and reducing cost
Depending on your facility’s type and pattern of use, one or more of your ORs likely is not being used a majority of the time. Yet for most facilities, the heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system operates continuously, providing air exchanges, humidity, and temperature control as if the OR were…
Going green in the OR brings financial, environmental gains
The OR generates more than 40% of a hospital's revenue and between 20% and 30% of its total waste volume, according to Practice Greenhealth, a nonprofit organization dedicated to environmental sustainability in health care. Given those numbers, it's no wonder that being environmentally friendly or "green" doesn't just benefit society—it…
Greening of the OR initiative is launched
The Greening of the OR, a national effort to reduce surgery's big environmental footprint, was launched in May 2010 by Practice Greenhealth. The 2-year-old nonprofit, claiming 1,000 hospital members, sees the OR as a major target for making health care more sustainable. "ORs are the largest waste generators in the…
ORs go green for staff, planet benefits
Boulder Community Foothills Hospital, Boulder, Colorado, emphasizes sustainability. The hospital is flooded with natural light, which saves on utilities and provides respite for patients and staff. OR managers who participate in the design of new or renovated OR suites have an opportunity to promote a healthy environment. But can hospitals…
Free Daily News
- Session: Hoisting the Sails—Winning Strategies for Growing Service Lines in an ASC
- Session: Riding the Wave—Considerations to Making Anesthesia Profitable in Today's Labor Market
- Session: Surfs Up—Rolling Out the OAS CAHPS Survey
- Montana legislators' prior authorization reform push mirrors national trends
- States push to expand nurse practice authority
- Oregon bill seeks to ban AI from using ‘nurse’ title amid patient safety concerns
- Study: Mechanical heart valves outperform biological for long-term survival in middle-aged patients
- Study: Virtual reality reduces preoperative anxiety in heart surgery patients
- CABG, TAVR drive hospital revenue despite cost variations
- Rural hospital closures drive up surgical travel times and costs