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Plastic Waste and COVID-19 Incidence Among Hospital Staff After Deescalation in PPE Use

JAMA Network Open 2025 2 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 58 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Stephanie Sutjipto, Aung Hein Aung, Aung Hein Aung, Margaret Mei Ling Soon, Margaret Mei Ling Soon, Jing Chen, Brenda Ang, Kalisvar Marimuthu, Sapna P. Sadarangani, Kai Wei Chong, Kai Wei Chong, Oon Tek Ng, Kalisvar Marimuthu, Wei Yen Lim, Wei Yen Lim, Angela Chow, Shawn Vasoo

Summary

This quality improvement study at a hospital found that scaling back the use of personal protective equipment following national guidelines significantly reduced plastic waste, costs, and carbon footprint without compromising staff safety. The reduction in protective gown use alone led to measurable decreases in plastic waste generation. The findings suggest that PPE protocols can be optimized to reduce environmental impact while maintaining healthcare worker protection.

This quality improvement study of hospital PPE usage observed that the national PPE deescalation guidelines corresponded with the reductions in protective gown use, associated costs, carbon footprint, and plastic waste generation with no apparent compromise to staff safety and health.

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