Greening the OR Initiative from Practice Greenhealth signs on more than 55 operating rooms

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by Rebecca Walker — October 18, 2010—Launched just five months ago, the Greening the OR Initiative has been adopted by more than 55 hospitals and healthcare facilities in the United States.

Practice Greenhealth, which announced the initiative in May at this year’s CleanMed conference, provided an update on the collaborative yesterday. Hospitals and medical centers from New York to California have signed on, including more than 40 in the Catholic Healthcare West systems in Arizona, California and Nevada.

The green OR effort is aimed at cutting waste in operating rooms, one of the more resource-intensive areas in a hospital. Citing figures from a recent study, Practice Greenhealth noted ORs generate about 20 to 30 percent of hospitals’ total waste. Much of the waste thrown out by ORs is disposed of as regulated medical waste even though a substantial portion of the material can be handled in nonregulated waste streams.

In addition to the Catholic Heathcare West facilities, participants in the green OR collaborative include:

  • The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio
  • Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, N.H.
  • Fairview Health Services, Minneapolis, Minn.
  • Frankfort Regional Medical Center, Frankfort, Ky.
  • Frank R Howard Memorial Hospital, Willits, Calif.
  • Iowa Health System, Des Moines, Iowa
  • Lee’s Summit Medical Center, Lee’s Summit, Mo.
  • Magee-Women’s Hospital of UPMC, Pittsburgh, Pa.
  • MetroWest Medical Center, Natick, Mass.
  • NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, New York, N.Y.
  • NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, N.Y.
  • Providence Health & Services – Portland Service Area, Portland, Ore.
  • Sacred Heart Hospital, Eau Claire, Wis.
  • Spectrum Butterworth Hospital, Grand Rapids, Mich.
  • St. John Hospital & Medical Center, Detroit, Mich.
  • University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, Md.
  • VA Medical Center, Memphis, Tenn.

Practice Greenhealth is the nation’s leading membership and networking organization for institutions in the healthcare community that have made a commitment to sustainable, eco-friendly practices. For more information, see the Web site.