The study "Environmental Impact Assessment of Reusable and Disposable Surgical Head Covers" was published in Jama Surgery.

In the pursuit of more environmentally sustainable healthcare, many studies are being conducted worldwide on the environmental and climate impact of products used in hospital care. However, no study had yet been done on widely used surgical head covers. This changed when our AR&D researchers Wouter Hehenkamp and Eva Cohen compared the environmental footprint of reusable surgical head covers with single-use disposable surgical head covers. To determine this, they conducted a life cycle assessment (LCA), which takes into account all factors included in the life cycle: where the head covers are made, what raw materials are used to produce them, how they are transported and how many kilos of waste they generate. In the study they also examined how much water and which detergents are required to wash the reusable head covers. The results of this life cycle analysis show that reusable head covers have a 56 to 61% lower carbon footprint than the disposable alternatives. Not only surgeons, but also gynecologists, anesthesiologists and other healthcare providers can take this conclusion directly into daily practice - with the role of healthcare organizations being essential for effective implementation.