# Eco-Conscious in the Operating Room Eco Conscious in the Operating Room MEDINDIA MEDINDIA Consult Online Doctor Courses Explore Healthy Living News Health A Z Calculators Articles Drugs Directories Education More Search Medindia Medindia » News » General Health News » Eco Conscious in the Operating Room Eco Conscious in the Operating Room by Kathy Jones on Feb 22 2011 8:43 PM Practical strategies to implement environmentally friendly practices in operating rooms and other hospital facilities have been identified by Johns Hopkins researchers. Practical strategies to implement environmentally friendly practices in operating rooms and other hospital facilities have been identified by Johns Hopkins researchers. This could result in vastly reduced health care costs and pose no risk to patient safety. Experts say health care facilities are second only to the food industry in contributing to waste products in the United States, producing more than 6,600 tons per day and more than four billion pounds annually. Operating rooms and labor and delivery suites together, the researchers say, account for nearly 70 percent of hospital waste. Health Effects of Global Warming Greenhouse effect causes excessive heat to build up in the earth’s atmosphere causing global warming and affects the environment and health. Reporting in the February issue of the Archives of Surgery , the Johns Hopkins team said hospital operating rooms notoriously open sterilized equipment that is never used, install energy sucking overhead lights and fill red bags that are labeled as medical waste with harmless trash that could be more cheaply disposed. "There are many strategies that don''t add risk to patients but allow hospitals to cut waste and reduce their carbon footprints," says study leader Martin A. Makary, M.D., M.P.H., … --- *Source: Medindia — https://www.medindia.net/news/eco-conscious-in-the-operating-room-81254-1.htm* *Full article (with references and related content) available with an XPay API key: https://medindia-articles.on.xpay.sh/news/eco-conscious-in-the-operating-room-81254-1.htm?key=YOUR_XPAY_KEY*