Issue 5, 2016

Environmental impacts of reusable nanoscale silver-coated hospital gowns compared to single-use, disposable gowns

Abstract

Nanoscale silver has been incorporated into a variety of products where its antimicrobial properties enhance their functionality. One particular application is hospital linens, potential vectors of disease transmission. There is an on-going debate as to whether it is more beneficial to use disposable versus reusable hospital gowns in efforts to prevent nosocomial infections. This work models the life cycle impacts of nanoscale silver (nAg)-enabled, reusable hospital gowns from a life cycle assessment perspective and then compares the midpoint environmental impact data to the use of disposable hospital gowns. A key finding of this work is the environmental parity (when the environmental impact of nAg and disposable gowns are equal) of a nAg-enabled gown is 12 wearings. These results suggest that nAg textiles may be key in reducing the environmental impact of hospitals, while still preventing infection.

Graphical abstract: Environmental impacts of reusable nanoscale silver-coated hospital gowns compared to single-use, disposable gowns

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
13 Jun 2016
Accepted
15 Aug 2016
First published
02 Sep 2016

Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2016,3, 1124-1132

Environmental impacts of reusable nanoscale silver-coated hospital gowns compared to single-use, disposable gowns

A. L. Hicks, R. B. Reed, T. L. Theis, D. Hanigan, H. Huling, T. Zaikova, J. E. Hutchison and J. Miller, Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2016, 3, 1124 DOI: 10.1039/C6EN00168H

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