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Scientific Oral Presentations

Care Equity, Quality, and Safety

Session: Scientific Oral Presentations 3 - Care Equity, Quality, and Safety

Operating Room Instrument Tray Cost Analysis: A Systematic Review and Institutional Experience

Monday, September 30, 2024
10:00 AM – 10:06 AM EDT
Location: MBCC, 235-237
Disclosure(s):
Jan E. Bian, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Srikar Kommareddy:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Kiana Y. Prather:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Introduction: Research identifying and reducing healthcare-related waste has flourished in recent years, and instrument tray usage has been identified as a potential target for waste reduction. The goals of this study were to characterize instrument tray utilization at our own institution and to describe current methods for estimating costs associated with instrument tray processing at healthcare institutions.

Methods: Institutional data was collected over a 3-month period. The number of used and total instruments were recorded at the end of each surgery. Outcomes were the percentage of used instruments, estimated cost of processing and CO2 produced. Two databases (Ovid MEDLINE and Embase) were systematically searched for studies on instrument tray costs from 2003-2023. Studies were included if the authors reported a replicable description of their methodology.

Results: A total of 71 cases were audited and 11,217 instruments were counted. Of these, only 2,470 instruments were used. The estimated cost of sterilizing unused instruments was $1,177,971 per year, and the estimated total CO2 produced was 96,446 kg per year. A total of 42 studies were selected for review and 11 studies were ultimately included, estimating a cost per instrument of $0.13-$3.19. The most common method for estimating cost was adopting previously reported estimates; this was done in 31 screened studies. The next most common methodology was dividing total spending by total number of instruments sterilized.

Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that OR instrument trays are an important source of healthcare-associated waste. Further investigation into methods for surgical instrument tray reduction are warranted. This study is the first to characterize the current methods used to estimate the cost of instrument tray processing in a systematic review. As this area of study continues to grow, standardization of this methodology will become even more important. Reducing OR-associated waste is not only good for the planet, but the savings it generates will be reflected in more efficient ORs and could even lower healthcare costs for our patients.

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Jan E. Bian, MD

    Resident Physician
    University of Oklahoma Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery
    Oklahoma City, OK, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

    • Co-Author(s)

  • SK

    Srikar Kommareddy

    OU College of Medicine, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

  • JE

    James Eagleton

    OU College of Medicine, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

  • TL

    Tram Le, MD

    OU College of Medicine, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

  • KP

    Kiana Y. Prather

    Resident
    OU College of Medicine
    Oklahoma City, OK, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

  • AG

    Anna Grady, MD

    OU College of Medicine, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

    • Senior Author(s)

  • Joanne C. Skaggs, MD

    Associate Chief Medical Officer Adult
    OU Health
    OK, OK, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.