22 Feb 2023
Four practices are piloting a study to see whether reusable drapes are as effective as their single-use counterparts.
Allister Webb
Job Title
Nicole Dyer, clinical director at Ash Tree Vets, provided the idea for the project.
A new project is examining whether different types of drape can contribute to better surgical outcomes in veterinary practice.
Four VetPartners surgeries are piloting the Project Drapes (Drapes in Routine Aseptic Procedures for Environmental Sustainability) programme, which has also received funding from the BSAVA’s PetSavers grant awarding body.
The programme will see patients undergoing routine neutering procedures randomly allocated either reusable or disposable drapes before they are operated on.
It is hoped that the scheme could help to reduce the environment impact of veterinary practice if the reusable drapes are found to be at least as effective as their single-use counterparts.
The project was the idea of Nicole Dyer, clinical director of one of the pilot practices, Ash Tree Vets, which has branches in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire.
Miss Dyer said: “Many practitioners, including myself, are more and more interested in how we can reduce the environmental impact in practice.
“While choosing reusable products may reduce the practice’s waste, there are evidence gaps as to whether this has any impact on our patient outcomes. I thought that as a large group of diverse practices, we are in the perfect position to collect this data from our teams and potentially use that to answer some of these clinical questions.
“As vets, we want to make sure we are making the best decisions for our patients. To do this, we often look for evidence that support what we are doing day to day.
“We want to reduce environmental impact; however, not at the detriment to our patients.”
The idea was subsequently backed by VetPartners’ clinical board and has received ethical approval from the RCVS.
Hannah James – VetPartners’ head of environment, social and governance – said: “If our studies show there is no difference between the two types of drape, our clinical teams can confidently make the choice and know they are using something more sustainable, and that we have the evidence showing it’s not compromising patient outcomes.
“If one type of drape is compromising patient safety, we have a better evidence base record to protect patient safety and outcomes.”
The other practices participating in the pilot programme are Aireworth Vets in Keighley, Hampden Vets in Aylesbury and Minster Vets in York.
