Reducing the ecological footprint of surgical hand scrub: it is time to act!

摘要

The sequence of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions causing global warming and climate change have been documented by the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The National Health Service in the United Kingdom has established its carbon footprint at 549.3 million tonnes of CO_2 equivalents in 2010 while the health sector in the United States emits 8% of the total GHG emissions of the United States. Every community is responsible for reducing the ecological footprint within their areas of influence. The relevance of climate change to the surgical community is clearly illustrated in a recent consensus document published by the Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. Surgical hand scrubbing (SHS) is an essential part of pre-operative preparation of the surgical team. Recommended duration of SHS is highly variable. Traditional duration of SHS was 5 min and this was done mostly with an open tap. This duration has been challenged. More recent recommendations are for a duration of 2-3 min. Evidence-based reduction of scrub time alone would reduce water use and thereby a reduced eco footprint of SHS.