Environmentalism in surgical practice

Most surgeons equate environmentalism with the softer sciences related more to personal philosophy than with anything connected to the harder science and business of healing patients. Only after we can get beyond the jokes about “saving whales” and “hugging trees” and “going green,” canwe truly appreciate environmentalism in surgery for what it is: a smart, efficient, and cost effective way to do business in 2016. In the past decade, and especially in the wake of the Affordable Care Act, there has been national emphasis on improving the quality of health care delivery and increasing transparency while decreasing cost. Ironically, this is happening at a time when rapidly evolving technology is making health care more and more expensive. By evaluating the current system and eliminating waste and unnecessary expense, providers and health care systems can achieve that balance between quality and affordability. When waste accounts for at least 20% of health care costs, the current system of tight operating margins and hypersensitive awareness to expense is bound to fail. Medicare and Medicaid estimates that health care spending is growing at a rate of 1.1% per year (faster than Gross Domestic Product [GDP] itself). By 2024, it would account for 19.6% of GDP. Overall, 60% of all hospital costs are accrued in the operating room (OR). Surgeons are stewards of the medical profession and leaders, not just in the OR, but in their communities as well. As such, it is the surgeon’s obligation to proactively address the issues of quality and cost at the same time as environmental concerns such as global warming, landfill burden, toxic waste disposal, and limited and dwindling precious resources. Luckily for surgeons, these issues are