Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Do you see what i see? Designing a Sensory Substitution Device to access non-verbal modes of communication

The inability to access non-verbal cues is a setback for people who are blind or visually impaired. A visual-to-auditory Sensory Substitution Device (SSD) may help improve the quality of their lives by transforming visual cues into auditory cues. In this paper, we describe the design and development of a robust and real-time SSD called iFEPS - improved Facial Expression Perception through Sound. The implementation of the iFEPS evolved over time through a participatory design process. We conducted both subjective and objective experiments to quantify the usability of the system. Evaluation with 14 subjects (7 blind + 7 blindfolded) shows that the users were able to perceive the facial expressions in most of the time. In addition, the overall subjective usability of the system was found to be scoring 4.02 in a 5 point Likert scale