The environmental impacts of surgical head covers in The Netherlands

Abstract

Health care delivery is estimated to be responsible for 4% to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, in large part originating from the supply chain and waste of surgical equipment and surgical attire. The latter is progressive, since an increasing amount of surgical equipment has transitioned from reusable to single-use disposable versions. This study compares the environmental footprint of reusable surgical head covers with single-use disposable surgical head covers.

Methods & Results

For a complete summary of this data source and to see reported environmental impact values for studied products and activities, explore the HealthcareLCA Database.

Citation

Cohen ES, Djufri S, Bons S, Knoppert MR, Hehenkamp WJK, Kouwenberg LHJA, Sperna Weiland NH. Environmental Impact Assessment of Reusable and Disposable Surgical Head Covers. JAMA surgery. 2023;