Project #20: Greening the OR

Authors

Sonalee Shah, Henry Ford HealthFollow
Chip Amoe, Henry Ford Health

Files

Description

Health care is responsible for 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with hospitals representing more than one-third of those emissions. A study in The Lancet found anesthetic gases make up 51 percent of an average U.S. operating room's GHG emissions. Inhaled anesthetics and nitrous oxide are potent GHG. Commonly used inhaled, or volatile, anesthetics are Desflurane, Isoflurane, and Sevoflurane. Global warming potential (GWP) is a measure of how much a given mass of greenhouse gas contributes to global warming over a specified period of time relative to CO2. Deslurane has highest GWP and is most expensive, at 2,540 times more potent than CO2! Primary goal: Reduce greenhouse gases emissions due to volatile anesthetics from HFH. Secondary goal: Decrease money spent on volatile anesthetics by eliminating the most harmful and most epxensive volatile agent, Desflurane.

Publication Date

9-6-2023

Recommended Citation

Shah, Sonalee and Amoe, Chip, "Project #20: Greening the OR" (2023). Quality Expo 2023. 5.
https://scholarlycommons.henryford.com/qualityexpo2023/5