Benjamin Pradere1, Richard Mallet2, Alexandre de La Taille3, Franck Bladou4, Denis Prunet5, Sarah Beurrier6, Florian Bardet7, Xavier Game8, Georges Fournier9, Eric Lechevallier10, Paul Meria11, Xavier Matillon12, Thomas Polguer13, Nadia Abid12, Bertrand De Graeve14, Diana Kassab15, Arnaud Mejean16, Vincent Misrai17, Ugo Pinar18. 1. Department of Urology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, Vienna General Hospital, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: benjaminpradere@gmail.com. 2. Department of Urology, Hopital Privé Francheville, Périgueux, France. 3. Department of Urology, University Hospital Henri Mondor, AP-HP, UPEC, Créteil Cédex, France. 4. Department of Urology, Pellegrin University Hospital, Bordeaux, France. 5. Department of Urology, Clinique Urologie Royan, Royan, France. 6. Department of Urology, Hopital Cochin AP-HP, Paris, France. 7. Department of Urology, CHU Dijon, Dijon, France. 8. Department of Urology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Rangueil, Université Toulouse III, Toulouse, France. 9. Department of Urology, Hôpital de la Cavale Blanche, Université de Brest, Brest, France. 10. Department of Urology, Aix-Marseille Université, CHU La Conception, AP-HM, Marseille, France. 11. Department of Urology, Hopital Saint Louis, APH-HP, Paris, France. 12. Department of Urology, Hôpital Édouard Herriot, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, France. 13. Department of Urology, CH Romans-sur-Isère, Hopitaux Drome nord, Romans-sur-Isère, France. 14. Department of Urology, UroGard, Nimes, France. 15. Association Francaise d'Urologie, Paris, France. 16. Department of Urology, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, AP-HP Centre, Université de Paris, Paris, France. 17. Department of Urology, Clinique Pasteur, Toulouse, France. 18. Department of Urology, Sorbonne University, GRC 5 Predictive Onco-Uro, AP-HP, Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital, Paris, France.
Abstract
CONTEXT: Surgical activity contributes to global warming though the production of greenhouse gases and consumption of resources. To date, no clinical practice guidelines have been made to promote and implement climate-smart actions. OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic review of the available actions that could limit CO2 emission in the operating room (OR) and their potential benefits upon the environment, whilst preserving quality of care. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: MEDLINE and Cochrane databases were searched from January 1, 1990 to April 2021. We included studies assessing carbon footprint (CF) in the OR and articles detailing actions that limit or reduce CF. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Thirty-eight studies met the inclusion criteria. We identified six core climate-smart actions: (1) waste reduction by segregation; (2) waste reduction by recycling, reuse, and reprocessing; (3) sterilisation; (4) anaesthesia gas management; and (5) improvement of energy use. Quantitative analysis regarding the CF was not possible due to the lack of homogeneous data. For climate-smart actions, the analysis was limited by discrepancies in study scope and in the methodology of CO2 emission calculation. Improvement of education and awareness was found to have an important impact on waste segregation and reduction. Waste management is the area where health care workers could have the strongest impact, whereas the main field to reduce CF in the OR was found to be energy consumption. CONCLUSIONS: This review provides arguments for many climate-smart actions that could be implemented in our daily practice. Improving awareness and education are important to act collectively in a sustainable way. Further studies are mandatory to assess the impact of these climate-smart actions in the OR. PATIENT SUMMARY: We performed a systematic review of the available scientific literature to reference all the climate-smart actions proposed to improve the sustainability of surgical activities. Waste segregation, waste reduction and recycling, reuse and reprocessing, sterilisation, anaesthesia gas changes, and improvement of energy use in the operating room were found to be the main areas of research. There is still a long way to go to homogenise and improve the quality of our climate-smart actions.
CONTEXT: Surgical activity contributes to global warming though the production of greenhouse gases and consumption of resources. To date, no clinical practice guidelines have been made to promote and implement climate-smart actions. OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic review of the available actions that could limit CO2 emission in the operating room (OR) and their potential benefits upon the environment, whilst preserving quality of care. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: MEDLINE and Cochrane databases were searched from January 1, 1990 to April 2021. We included studies assessing carbon footprint (CF) in the OR and articles detailing actions that limit or reduce CF. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS: Thirty-eight studies met the inclusion criteria. We identified six core climate-smart actions: (1) waste reduction by segregation; (2) waste reduction by recycling, reuse, and reprocessing; (3) sterilisation; (4) anaesthesia gas management; and (5) improvement of energy use. Quantitative analysis regarding the CF was not possible due to the lack of homogeneous data. For climate-smart actions, the analysis was limited by discrepancies in study scope and in the methodology of CO2 emission calculation. Improvement of education and awareness was found to have an important impact on waste segregation and reduction. Waste management is the area where health care workers could have the strongest impact, whereas the main field to reduce CF in the OR was found to be energy consumption. CONCLUSIONS: This review provides arguments for many climate-smart actions that could be implemented in our daily practice. Improving awareness and education are important to act collectively in a sustainable way. Further studies are mandatory to assess the impact of these climate-smart actions in the OR. PATIENT SUMMARY: We performed a systematic review of the available scientific literature to reference all the climate-smart actions proposed to improve the sustainability of surgical activities. Waste segregation, waste reduction and recycling, reuse and reprocessing, sterilisation, anaesthesia gas changes, and improvement of energy use in the operating room were found to be the main areas of research. There is still a long way to go to homogenise and improve the quality of our climate-smart actions.