In an online survey of cataract surgeons and nurses, 93% agreed that operating room (OR) waste is excessive, with 78% in favour of reusing OR supplies.
Of the 1,300 surveyed, 90% agreed that profit, medical liability concerns and failure to consider their carbon footprint hampered manufacturers’ drive to produce multiple-use items, and 79% said they would prefer reusable instruments.
The Ophthalmic Instrument Cleaning and Sterilization Task Force, led by Dr David Chang, University of California, US, conducted the survey. It was driven in part by New York University’s 2017 study showing India’s Aravind Eye Hospitals’ reuse of phacoemulsification supplies and drugs produces a carbon footprint of just 5% of the same procedure in the UK and US, and despite the reuse, Aravind’s endophthalmitis rate is a quarter of that in the US.
