Modeled Carbon Footprint of Change of Sterile Gloves and Instruments for Abdominal Wound Closure

What is the global carbon footprint of changing sterile gloves and instruments before closure of clean-contaminated and contaminated-dirty abdominal wounds?This decision analytic model showed that, in the base case scenario in lower- and middle-income countries, changing gloves and instruments was associated with a reduction in the wound-specific carbon footprint of 10.97 kg CO equivalents (kgCOe) in clean-contaminated surgeries and of 22.60 kgCOe in contaminated-dirty surgeries. In high-income countries in the best-case scenario, reductions were 4.14 kgCOe and 10.48 kgCOe, respectively.This model demonstrates an overall net reduction in carbon emissions with the change of sterile gloves and instruments, supporting its adoption in surgical practice.

Corresponding Author: Dmitri Nepogodiev, PhD, NIHR Global Health Research Unit on Global Surgery, Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TH, United Kingdom (d.nepogodiev@bham.ac.uk).

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