The cost of waste of consumable materials in a surgical center

• Main Authors: Liliana Cristina de Castro (Author), Valeria Castilho (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo, 2013-12-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 1518-8345; 10.1590/0104-1169.2920.2358
• Keywords: Recursos Materiales en Salud; Servicio de Cirugía en Hospital; Costos y Analisis de Costo; Enfermería; Nursing; RT1-120
• Source: Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem, Vol 21, Iss 6, Pp 1228-1234 (2013)

OBJECTIVES: to identify the types, quantities and cost of the consumable materials sent, used, returned unopened and wasted in surgical operations; to classify the incidences of waste as avoidable or unavoidable losses, and to calculate the rate of waste of the consumable materials in the peri-operative period in the Surgical Center of a São Paulo university hospital. METHOD: a descriptive-exploratory case study with a quantitative approach. The convenience sample corresponded to 105 types of consumable materials sent for the 275 operations observed between February and May 2011. RESULTS: the items wasted most were surgical sutures, surgical cotton sutures, and gauze compresses. The total cost of the waste was R$ 709.84. The mean percentage of waste in the sample was 9.34%, of which 1.23% was avoidable and 8.14% unavoidable. CONCLUSION: the study evidenced that the effective management of material resources reduces the costs of the processes, and reduces waste.