Halyard, a provider of products in the healthcare sector that help prevent healthcare-associated infections, has introduced a new dispenser system to reduce glove waste and contamination. Typical glove dispensers used in healthcare settings can lead to wasted products as well as cross contamination. With Halyard’s Eco Pull dispenser provides consistently easy access to gloves and ensures that only one glove is dispensed at a time, helping reduce waste, the company says.
Typical glove dispensers can also lead to contamination: as a box empties, healthcare professionals must reach in to retrieve gloves, increasing the likelihood that other gloves inside the box become contaminated.
Medical waste generates more than 5.4 tons per year for an average operating room, costing each operating room about $5,243, according to the 2015 Practice Greenhealth Sustainability Benchmark Report.
The Eco Pull dispenser reduces multiple dispensing of gloves by over 50% compared to common glove dispensers, Halyard says. By reducing waste, the dispenser helps healthcare organizations to cut down on high waste management costs.
The design of the Eco Pull dispenser continuously lifts gloves to the top as each pair is removed. This eliminates the need to reach into the box, reducing the transfer of contaminates from users onto the gloves remaining in the dispenser. Study data shows that gloves within the Eco Pull dispenser exhibit nearly 50% less contamination compared to gloves in common film-covered dispensers.
Reduction and management of healthcare waste is a challenge, but is vital in terms of environmental impact. The disposal of untreated health care wastes in landfills can lead to the contamination of drinking, surface, and ground waters if those landfills are not properly constructed, according to the World Health Organization.
In 2014, Halyard adopted a policy statement to design, manufacture and deliver its products and to operate its business in a way that protects the biosphere and promotes the sustainable use of natural resources upon which businesses and stakeholders depend, including forests, water supplies and energy resources.
A growing demand for sustainability strategies exists in the healthcare ecosystem among US health system executives and operating room clinicians, according to a 2017 Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices Companies (JJMDC) survey.
The survey found that nine out of 10 clinicians (92%) and health system executives (88%) agree that sustainability provides long-term cost savings.
