医院“废品”再利用(双语有声)

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Recycling Some Hospital Waste (Not The Really Gross Kind)
The food industry leads the nation in pounds of waste produced annually. So, what's second? It's health care facilities. They dispose of more than four billion pounds of waste each year.

美国每年产生最多废品的是食品行业，那第二呢？是医保设备。他们每年要处理四十多亿磅废品。

Another shocker? A lot of that waste is perfectly functional. In fact, it hasn't been used at all. For instance, many surgical devices may be removed from packaging, but not used in an operation. They still get thrown away.

更令人震惊的是很多废品功能良好，其实根本没用过。举个例子：很多手术设备只是从包装里拿了出来，并没有用于手术，结果也被扔掉了。

Researchers from Johns Hopkins [led by Martin Makary] discuss the waste problem in the March issue of the journal Academic Medicine. They say that 25 to 40 percent of equipment can be safely reused via what's called reprocessing. The materials need to go through careful treatments, such as cleaning, sterilization and, at times, remanufacturing. But the study's authors say that following reprocessing, there's no difference in safety and sterility.

约翰· 霍普金斯大学由马丁·马卡利领导的研究者们在三月号的《学院医学》中讨论了废品问题。他们认为通过再加工有25至<40%的设备可以安全使用。这些设备得通过细心的对待，比如清洗、杀菌，甚至是重新加工。研究者们还表示，经过重新处理的设备不会有安全卫生方面的问题。

In fact, Hopkins has already saved about a half-million dollars by reprocessing. And Banner Health in Phoenix, also mentioned in the study, saved $1.5 million and vast amounts of waste. The researchers conclude that reprocessing offers a way for hospitals to reduce waste and costs. Something that, in the current healthcare debate, should appeal to everyone on both sides of the political aisle.

实际上霍普金斯大学已经通过使用再加工设备节省了约50万美元，研究中提及的凤凰城班纳健康中心节省了150万美元，减少产生大量废品。研究者们总结道，再加工使医院减少废品、节约开支--在眼下的国会医保辩论中，这是对双方都非常有吸引力的。