Overview
- The study, presented at ANESTHESIOLOGY 2026 on Monday, analyzed 145,917 anesthetic episodes across six Virginia Tech Carilion sites and compared 2021 baseline care with practices from January 2022 through October 2025.
- Average estimated emissions per anesthetic fell from 57.6 kgCO2e to 31.6 kgCO2e, a roughly 45% drop, and the health system exceeded its internal 50% emissions‑reduction goal by late 2025.
- Spending on inhaled anesthetics declined about 40%, from $628,588 in 2021 to $379,010 in 2024, driven by lower use of high‑emission agents and reduced waste.
- Measured patient outcomes showed no worsening after the changes, with no increases in recovery room or hospital stays, reintubation, intraoperative awareness, or postoperative nausea and vomiting.
- The program achieved these results through low‑cost operational steps—shifting away from desflurane (23.8% to 9.81% of cases), increasing sevoflurane use (82.4% to 93.1%), lowering fresh‑gas flow rates, and giving clinicians individualized emissions feedback—which suggests other hospitals could adopt similar measures though peer‑reviewed publication and independent replication are not yet reported.