Sustainability for ICU's

How does single-use medical equipment lower the risk of infection being transmitted from patient to patient?

The useage of a single-use medical equipment requires the process of medical items to be sterilized during manufacturing only. Materials are never decontaminated and used again after a second reported sterilization process, therefore it avoids decontamination and is solely used for the first and only patient treatment. Various types of single-use medical items are used today and some of these include equipment, such as catheters, angio-caths, lancets, and needles.

This process is often used in surgical procedures for perioperative care, and intensive care units worldwide to reduce the rate at which patients develop healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) by reducing the risk of transmission between use from patient to patient. Some excamples of surgical single use medical equipment includes stents, and or implantation devices. 

Act 368 of the 1978 Public Health Code defines recycling, re-using, or refurbishing any single-use medical equipment to be prohibited. It defines any of these to be considered a violation of the section and either punishable by a felony of no more than 10 years, or a penalty of 50,000 dollars. Although in some instances it can include both a felony, and a penalty or fine depending on the severity of the violation.