[From Inova] Imagine that after months of preparing for surgery, your stretcher is getting rolled into the hospital’s operating room. In this moment, knowing your surgical team is ready to tackle any challenge that may arise is paramount.

Rest assured, they are prepared. As they prep for each case, surgical teams take every precaution to ensure they can respond quickly to any situation. This means that the surgical kit for your procedure will contain extra supplies for dealing with unforeseen complications. Those surplus supplies can save lives when a procedure takes an unexpected turn.

But when your procedure does go as planned, those unused supplies will be discarded as a result of hospital regulations. Those potentially life-saving materials—ranging from surgical gloves and sponges to IV fluids and medications — add up to about $1,000 per surgery, and constitute much of the 2,000 tons of waste generated daily by hospitals across the country...(Continue reading)