Waste Not, Want Not-GW Reaching
Out to Help Enhance Medical Care Abroad
The scarcity of medical
equipment and supplies in developing countries continues to pose
health care problems. Physicians and medical students who have
worked abroad in places such as Vietnam and Africa often report
a lack of basic resources, including tape, sutures, and gloves.
In some places, the lack of gloves is so severe that used gloves
are often washed and reused with other patients.
At GW, however, after a surgical procedure,
there are often surgical supplies that have not been used. Because
they are unsterile by American standards, they are discarded.
However, these extra supplies have many potential medical uses
in developing countries.
That's why a new program is underway at GW to
reduce waste and help alleviate the problem of resource scarcity
abroad. The program, called MEDSHARE, was spearheaded by medical
students and by GW's Surgical Services office. The GW MEDSHARE
program's goals are three-fold:
1. To recover for distribution to developing
countries usable medical equipment from daily hospital operations
that would otherwise be discarded;
2. To improve control of materials waste and
reduce hospital costs;
3. To enhance the hospital's mission of caring
for the ill on a global basis.
Combining the help and resources of GW students, physicians, operating
room staff, hospital administration, and the community, MEDSHARE
not only helps break down barriers to quality medical care in
developing countries, but also strengthens the teamwork environment
at GW.
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2001 The George Washington University Medical Center
