Comparative Analysis of Efficiency, Technical Performance, and Environmental Cost Between Reprocessed and New Coblator Wands in Intracapsular Tonsillectomies and Adenoidectomies
Montefiore Medical Center
Summary
This study will address the gap in coblator wands by comparing the performance of reprocessed coblator wands with new wands in terms of efficiency and technical issues. As part of the evaluation, the investigator team will conduct the technical performance of the life cycle assessment of reprocessed versus new coblation wands based on the methodology described in the literature (see References) in studies of laryngoscopes.
Description
Reprocessed operating room tools offer surgeons an opportunity to use equipment that have been inferenced to incur lower hospital and environmental costs. Tools that are "disposable" are collected by reprocessing companies that then refurbish and sterilize the instrument and sell it back to the hospital at a reduced cost. Advocates argue that they may serve as a means of controlling increasing healthcare costs and further, because few if any new raw materials are needed for the reprocessing, environmental costs are also hypothesized to be reduced. However, the use of reprocessed tools has demo…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 1–18 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * Pediatric patients scheduled for tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy * Parental consent and child assent (when applicable) Exclusion Criteria: * Pregnancy
Interventions
- DeviceNew Coblator Ablation Wands
New, unused coblator ablation wands from Arthrocare
- DeviceReprocessed Medline Coblator Ablation Wands
Reprocessed coblator ablation wands from Medline
Location
- Children's Hosptial at MontefioreThe Bronx, New York