• Marc Schluep, Martijn Minheere, Michelle Baus, Stefan Machielse, Anita Donkers, and Heleen Vroman.
• Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Bravis Hospital, Bergen op Zoom, the Netherlands. Electronic address: m.schluep@bravis.nl.
• J Crit Care. 2024 Dec 1; 84: 154900154900.

IntroductionIntensive care unit (ICU) treatment carries a large environmental burden. Extending routine replacement of plastic line sets that belong to intravenous administration or invasive monitoring might lower waste from single-use plastics in ICUs. We extended the routine replacement interval of line sets from 4 to 7 days and assessed plastic waste reduction.MethodsIn this single center retrospective study the extension of the time interval from 4 to 7 days for routine replacement of line sets and its effect on plastic waste was assessed. The intervention was done at the start of 2022. Secondary outcomes were catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI), nursing workload, costs and material durability.ResultsIn total 1221 patients were admitted to ICU; 636 in the pre-intervention period and 585 in the post-intervention period. There was a reduction of 881 replacement sets, 182 kg of waste and 96 nursing hours in 2022. There was no difference in CRBSI incidence.ConclusionThis study demonstrates the benefits of 7-day replacement intervals for intravenous administration and invasive monitoring sets. We established this in terms of waste reduction, patient safety and costs.Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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