Surgery Team Wins 2023 SHC Sustainability Ambassador Award
Gretchen Annie accepts the Sustainability Award from Terry Duffina.
Drs. Jaclyn Wu and Paige Fox join the awards ceremony via Zoom.
December 12, 2023
The team “OR Sustainability and Waste Reduction,” made up of Dr. Jaclyn Wu, Dr. Paige Fox, Dr. John Gahagan, Gretchen Annie, RN and Courtland Couture, CST has been selected to receive the 2023 Sustainability Ambassador Award from Stanford Health Care (SHC). The team was chosen to participate in the Realizing Improvement through Team Empowerment (RITE) training program in March 2023.
“This team studied the impact of adjusting preference cards for one anorectal case type, to determine if there could be efficiency gains and waste reduction from the elimination of unneeded items on the preference card. They successfully demonstrated that 3-5 pounds of supplies were eliminated from this one case type alone, and proved efficiencies in the autoclave process for instruments,” said Terry Duffina, MBA, BEP, SFP, director of the Sustainability Program Office at the Monthly Managers Meeting where the award was presented.
The project also reduced 15 minutes of labor per tray assembly. If expanded to the 40,000+ OR cases performed at SHC, this initiative would result in up to 200,000 lbs of waste diverted from landfill annually.
“This project could reduce labor costs associated with the unneeded supply management, increasing the throughput of autoclaves and the potential to reduce waste from the OR significantly,” said Duffina.
The project was supported and enabled by the Department of Surgery Quality Improvement team, spearheaded by Tara Lahiji-Neary.
“This reflects well on our efforts to improve quality and reduce waste across the Department and health system,” said Dr. Ron Dalman, vice chair of Quality Improvement for Stanford Surgery. “Congratulations to everyone involved with this important project.”
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