In the September 2024 issue of the Outpatient Surgery Magazine, OR Excellence Awards Edition, the Racho Cordova- Eye Surgery Center received an Honorable Mention to recognize their impactful work.
The Rancho Cordova Eye Surgery Center, a two-room facility specializing in cataract surgery, practice change by switching from single-use to multi-use eye drops, dramatically reducing waste and costs—all without compromising patient outcomes.
Previously, the facility used single-use eye drop vials to dilate patients’ pupils in the preoperative area. However, only a fraction of the medication—an average of three drops per bottle—was used before the remainder was discarded. To mitigate this practice’s cost and environmental impact, leaders and staff began exploring alternatives. Unnecessary waste of perioperative eye drops inflates the cost of ophthalmic surgeries, increases the carbon footprint, and worsens periodic drug shortages.
In June 2023, the center transitioned to multi-use vials, a move that has proven successful. Before the switch, the facility used an average of 132 single-use vials weekly. By October 2023, that number had dropped to just 47 multi-use vials per week, a reduction of 85.
“After implementing our multi-use drops policy and evaluating data over four months, we found that bottle ordering decreased by 63% and costs decreased by 53.3%,” says Haley Murphy, BSN, RN, Assistant Nurse Manager. “Most importantly, we did not observe any significant spike in infections or complications during this period.”
The benefits extended beyond cost savings and waste reduction. When patients must dilate their pupils at home before surgery, they often face added costs for purchasing full bottles of eye drops at the pharmacy. Additionally, arriving at the facility with dilated pupils can create safety concerns, such as difficulty reading consent forms. By using multi-use drops onsite, the center ensures patient safety while addressing the national shortage of dilation drops and reducing the large amount of plastic waste generated by single-use vials.
“This initiative highlights the importance of nurse involvement in cost-saving decisions within health care to maintain the highest quality standards in the clinical setting,” says Murphy. She adds that the highly skilled nursing team at Rancho Cordova has been instrumental in refining this process and other innovative programs. The team’s efforts, led by nurses, benefitted the facility and served as a model for other local health care facilities seeking to implement similar strategies.
By sharing its protocols and results with local leaders, Rancho Cordova Eye Surgery Center demonstrated how operational changes driven by frontline staff can lead to impactful, sustainable improvements in patient care and resource management.