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Economic and Environmental Impacts of the Wide-Awake, Local Anesthesia, No Tourniquet (WALANT) Technique in Hand Surgery: A Review of the Literature
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Economic and Environmental Impacts of the Wide-Awake, Local Anesthesia, No Tourniquet (WALANT) Technique in Hand Surgery: A Review of the Literature

Dalibel Bravo, Clay B. Townsend, Jacob Tulipan and Asif M. Ilyas
Journal of hand surgery global online, v 4(6), pp 456-463
01 Nov 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhsg.2022.05.009
PMID: 36425376
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhsg.2022.05.009View
Published, Version of Record (VoR)Open Access (License Unspecified),  Open

Abstract

Cost analysis Hand surgery WALANT Wide-awake hand surgery Wide-awake local anesthesia no tourniquet
The United States spends more on health care than any other country in the world based on the percentage of gross domestic product. This fact is coupled with health care facilities contributing nearly one-tenth of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, and with the health care industry’s waste contributions to landfills being second only to those of the food industry. In some instances, operating rooms produce the majority of total landfill waste from hospitals; therefore, patients undergoing surgical procedures can have both financial and environmental impacts. Recently, the wide-awake, local anesthesia, no tourniquet technique in hand surgery has grown in popularity. This technique has reportedly allowed surgeons to decrease operating room costs, time, and waste, but without compromising patient safety or outcomes. This comprehensive literature review summarizes the current literature related to the economic and environmental impacts of the wide-awake, local anesthesia, no tourniquet technique in hand surgery.

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