Reducing water use in the operating room: a single-center retrospective analysis

BACKGROUND: There are many ways to reduce the impact of the health system, in particular water use makes good sense for healthcare facilities and reducing water use can lead to major savings in terms of lower water and sewer bills. The aim of our study is to quantify water usage of OR surgical staff during hand scrubs and estimating reduction in water use, practicing alternative methods of hand disinfection. METHODS: We estimated the amounts of water and soap usage during traditional surgical hand disinfection for a 2-year period. The amounts of water and costs of traditional disinfection agents were compared with alcohol-based agents. RESULTS: Each surgical wash used approximately 20 L of potable water. For a total of 1190 surgeries in 2 years, the total water use is about 71,500 L. Therefore, for a total of 1190 surgeries, approximately 23,800 mL of alcohol solution was required. A single package of alcohol solution contains 500 mL of product, so 48 packages were used. Each single package cost € 4.50, for a total cost of about € 214 for two years. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates significant water saving using an alcohol-based surgical hand scrub and important costs reduction.