It's that time of year. ARTA membership invoices have been sent!    

    Your support enables ARTA to continue to fulfill its mission to create greater awareness and appreciation for reusable textiles.

    If you've misplaced or not received your dues invoice, just send Nancy Jenkins an email at

While nearly 85% of operating room (OR) nurses say cost savings and waste reduction in the OR is a top priority or will become so in the near future, 47% of survey participants say they work in operating rooms where the use of reusable surgical textiles is less than 25%. Nearly 25% said reusable surgical textiles are not used at all in the OR at their hospitals.  

     Those were just a few of the findings from a survey taken during a recent webinar presented by Practice Greenhealth (PGH).

      

Practice Greenhealth Taps ARTA to Share Benefits of Reusable Surgical Textiles in Reducing Costs and Waste

This year, Practice Greenhealth is conducting a series of webinars on Greening the OR. ARTA was asked to present a Feb. 17 webinar on, "Reusable Surgical Textiles: Save Money and Reduce OR Waste Up to 30 Percent."   

      The PGH webinars are designed to familiarize member hospitals with Green OR best practices and generate a conversation about barriers to implementation and shared strategies for overcoming barriers.To date, more than 85 Practice Greenhealth member hospitals have endorsed the Greening the OR initiative.
    More than 40 hospitals logged on to participate in ARTA's Feb. 17 seminar.

For ARTA's webinar on Feb. 17, the panel of speakers assembled at the offices of ARTA member Health Systems Cooperative Laundries. From left to right, panelists were: OR Nurse Lynn Telen from Fairview Hospital, MnTAP Researchers Catherine Zimmer and A.J. Van Den Berghe, and HSCL's Barb Fordyce, who worked with Fariview to implement the conversion to reusable surgical textiles. Fordyce also serves as the 2nd vice president of ARTA. A big THANKS to HSCL for hosting our panel!

  For its webinar, ARTA pulled together a panel of experts to share the case study conducted by MnTAP at Fairview Hospital, University of Minnesota, in Minneapolis. Included on the panel: Lynn Thelen, RN and OR nurse at Fairview who spearheaded the conversion to reusables, Barb Fordyce of ARTA and HSCL, the laundry provider, as well as the MnTAP researchers who pulled the data together, Catherine Zimmer and A.J. Van Den Berghe. President Steve Tinker moderated the session.     
     This case study and its results were shared at ARTA's Green Summit last July, along with a life cycle analysis of surgical gowns. Members can download a copy of the presentation at www.arta1.com.

Webinar Survey Results   

Other findings from the survey taken during ARTA's webinar for PGH suggest that the majority of OR nurses have only known disposable products during their careers, and use them due to their perceived convenience and lower cost. In other words, we've reached the point where most healthcare professionals have no memory of pre-disposable days!

    In addition, the informal survey of 40-plus webinar participants showed that:

• More than 50% used a central laundry or cooperative for linen processing;  
• 36.4% used a commercial provider of textiles and laundry services.  
• Only 50% rated their laundry service as good or great.
• More than 30% were surprised by the findings of the Fairview Hospital research, but ....
• Only 9% said the data changed their opinion of reusable surgical textiles.    

 

Education, Education, Education

Some might find this survey's findings disheartening. But look at it this way, we have a tremendous opportunity to better educate our clients, increase our quality and improve our services. During the Q&A session following the webinar, several nurses expressed interest in increasing their use of reusable surgical textiles, but were afraid of the upfront costs of purchasing reusables.

     The disposable industry can always cut prices to compete with reusables. But, if operators and suppliers are willing to provide the desired quality, customer service and education, reusable surgical textiles have two advantages disposables cannot compete against -- reusable textiles are 1) more environmentally friendly and 2) provide a ready means to significantly reduce waste and its associated costs. 

    For more information on Practice Greenhealth and its Greening the OR Initiative:  www.practicegreenhealth.org.

It's become a Clean Show tradition -- The ARTA Member Breakfast. And you are invited to attend the June 7 event, held from 6:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
     Stop by and enjoy a hot breakfast before attending Clean education sessions or entering the show floor. Tickets to the breakfast are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. All attendees must RSVP. You can download information on the breakfast from the ARTA website and mail your check to:

ARTA
PO Box 1142
Mission, KS  66222

     We hope you will join us and fortify yourself for the day while networking with ARTA members, who represent all facets of the textile services industry: from manufacturers and suppliers to profit and not-for-profit operators, as well as allied trade associations. 
     Following the ARTA Member Breakfast, ARTA will hold its education session at 8 a.m. on, "The Environmental Benefits of Reusable Textiles."
     ARTA is exhibiting during Clean. Be sure and stop by Booth #1024 and say hello!
     Questions? Contact Nancy Jenkins.

While the healthcare profession may have a bias toward disposible items, when they try out reusables, the are sold! That is the gist of research published by the Association of Operating Room Nurses (AORN) in its journal last year.

     The article, "Reducing Medical Waste," was written by several researchers who conducted a concept comparison project in the ORs of two large medical centers in Bethesda, MD, and Washington, DC. The focus of the project was to evaluate the effects of using reusable surgical basins, gowns, and table and Mayo stand covers in place of disposable products.

     Survey results indicated that surgeons and surgical technologists found the reusable products to be preferable to the disposable products currently in use.

    In addition, using reusable products provided a means to decrease regulated medical waste generated in the OR by an average of 65% as well as reduce the cost of waste disposal.  

    Comments from participants in the comparison projects included the following:

•  "I love going green for the environment."
• "The gown moves better, much more
• comfortable."
•  "I like the strength of the back table cover."
• "The gown is cooler."
•  "I was pleasantly surprised, I had my doubts
• but I really like the gown, it breathes."
•  "Of all the products trialed at this facility, I
• actually like this one."
•  "Happy to see we are trying to save the
• environment."
•  "I am for switching to these gowns."
•  "Really liked the back table cover and happy
• we are saving the environment."
•  "Do I have to give it back?"

In Summary

In an excerpt from the conclusion of the article, the "survey demonstrated the rapid acceptance and eagerness of surgeons and surgical technologists to convert to the use nondisposable products...[It is] proposed that the greening process in perioperative areas should occur in small steps and that acceptance by staff members will occur when changes take place gradually. This concept comparison exercise demonstrated a different perspective, in that the surgical staff members were eager to convert to a greener method in a very
short period."

     You can download a copy of the article from the ARTA website.