TY - JOUR
AU1 - Higginson, Ray
AB - Large amounts of waste in hospitals are generated in the operating theatre from disposable surgical equipment. Disposable surgical equipment such as single use peri-operative instruments, masks, gowns and hats are designed to be used only once in order to prevent spread of infection (Lankester et al, 2002). Because of associated infection risk, the whole philosophy of such equipment is that they are for single-use only and then appropriately disposed of (Hailey et al, 2009). As well as preventing the spread of infection the additional benefits of using disposable surgical equipment include reducing the time spent preparing materials and removing the need to clean equipment, given that disposable items are sterile when packaged (Rizzo et al, 2000).However, the use of disposable surgical equipment comes at a cost, both to a hospital's economy and the environment (Kwakye et al, 2010). It has been argued that single-use items are more expensive than reusable ones and the environmental impact of throwing away disposable equipment (in terms of pollution) can be high. Therefore, the question that must be asked is: what are the health benefits of continuing to use disposable surgical equipment?Surgical face masksSurgical face masks are designed to contain and filter droplets of 
TI - The benefits of disposable surgical equipment
JF - British Journal of Nursing
DO - 10.12968/bjon.2013.22.12.690
DA - 2013-06-26
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/mark-allen-group/the-benefits-of-disposable-surgical-equipment-eS68bK680h
SP - 690
EP - 691
VL - 22
IS - 12
DP - DeepDyve
ER -