3 Tips to Reduce Plastic Waste at Work

💬 In This Week's Edition

1. A Letter from P'Fella...
2. Article of the Week!
3. You can support P'Fella's mission
4. Upcoming Plastic Surgery Events
5. Work with P'Fella

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A Letter from P'Fella

P'Fella came across a tweet this week that was a great picture showing the environmental impacts of our jobs. When you look at it, it's kinda crazy, right?!?

The tweet highlights the environmental cost of a "simple injection: rubber gloves, lots of plastic, paper, cardboard, and glass. Sharps & glass into a sharps bin, the rest in general & clinical waste if contaminated".

Here are some interesting facts about the environmental impact on surgery:

• Healthcare adds to 7% of the entire nation’s CO2 emissions in Australia, 10% in USA, and 4% in the UK (Lancet 2017)
• Operating theatres produce 20-30% of an institution’s waste (RACS)
• Single-use plastic can make up to 20% of operative stores (PlastSurg)

As Plastic Surgeons, what can we do?

• 5Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rethink, and Research (CMAJ).
• Strategies should focus on material, energy, technique, dissemination (PRS)
• Resposable claims to reduce plastic waste in operating theatres by 83%.

P'Fella's personal thoughts: there is increased awareness but minimal action. What are your thoughts on it?

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Article of the Week

P'Fella came across this systematic review that is well-researched, well-designed, and actually has some clinical use. The only issue is, the authors should have titled the paper SNOOP-DOG (Systematic Naming of Operative Practices).  

Here are some important takeaways from the article

1. There is no single recommended technique.  
2. There are 10 commonly described techniques  
3. The authors propose a treatment algorithm

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You can help grow the Mission

thePlasticsFella is not built for profit. It's built for education.

The mission is simple  - to be an independent, open-sourced, evidence-based educational platform for Plastic Surgeons and Trainees. The growth of the platform is due to the fantastic community in Plastic Surgery.

To keep this growth sustainable, P'Fella has designed some merch specific to Plastic Surgeons. The first merch to drop last week was this Tote bag, and it was popular! These funds go directly towards keeping thePlasticsFella library free!

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Upcoming Events

1. Pulvertaft: 25th October - “Treatment of Neuromas"
2. Stoke Mandeville Plastics: 30th November - Skin Cancer Recon!
3. PLASTA/BAPRAS: 2nd December - Innovation in Plastic Surgery
4. BAPRAS 75 years: 3rd December
5. 2nd Stoke Mandeville Plastic Surgery Symposium - 14th December

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Work with P'Fella

Currently, 90+ Plastic Surgeons & Trainees are helping build the largest online Plastic Surgery Question Bank. It's a pretty exciting time for P'Fella and also the educators (because they are getting rewarded for their work).

I'm interested in that!