Don’t bring surplus supplies or equipment into patient care rooms if they will require disposal after patient transfer/discharge.

Disposal of unused medical supplies is common in ICUs, particularly at the time of patient transfer. Practices such as centralized supply carts, as-needed in-room restocking, and keeping emergency medication immediately available but unopened, have been suggested to minimize waste generated from unused items.

Sources:

ANZICS (2020). A beginners guide to sustainability in the ICU.

Ghersin, Zelda J. ; Flaherty, Michael R. ; Yager, Phoebe ; Cummings, Brian M. Routledge Going green: decreasing medical waste in a paediatric intensive care unit in the United States. The new bioethics, 2020-04, Vol.26 (2), p.98-110. PMID: 32597343.

Morrow, J., Hunt, S., Rogan, V., Cowie, K., Kopacz, J., Keeler, C., Billick, M. B., & Kroh, M. (2013). Reducing waste in the critical care setting. Nursing leadership (Toronto, Ont.), 26 Spec No 2013, 17–26. https://doi.org/10.12927/cjnl.2013.23362. PMID: 24860948.

Yu, A., & Baharmand, I. (2021). Environmental Sustainability in Canadian Critical Care: A Nationwide Survey Study on Medical Waste Management. Healthcare Quarterly (Toronto, Ont.). 23(4), 39–45. https://doi.org/10.12927/hcq.2020.26394. PMID: 33475491.