How can we address the ever-pressing need to ‘green up’ surgical practice in the National Health Service?
| Autor: | Nikolaos-Andreas Anastasopoulos, Vassilios Papalois |
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| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 115:213-219 |
| ISSN: | 1758-1095 0141-0768 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/01410768221095242 |
| Popis: | Clinical practice has inadvertently changed after the COVID-19 pandemic and currently the need to provide sustainable surgical services is more pressing than ever. The National Health Service has committed to a long-term efficient plan to reduce carbon footprint but there is no detailed plan for surgical practice, the domain that contributes the most to hospital-derived pollution. A series of consecutive steps and measures ought to be taken, starting from a hybrid approach quantifying surgically attributed carbon footprint. Then, a variety of suggested measures can be widely discussed and accordingly applied on a wider or more local level. Appropriate training should always precede implementing new practices to ensure that staff is familiar with these. These measures cover a broad range and should be arranged on a patient-centred basis from preoperative preconditioning to an effective follow-up. The need for more intense research and implementation of enhanced recovery protocols is widely discussed. Also, the necessity of green research and reinvestment of materials and resources is highlighted. A change of philosophy from a cradle-to-grave approach to a repurposing approach is suggested. We are confident that a new era is dawning in surgical practice and teamwork is the key for providing greener surgical services. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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