Sustainable practice: Switching to reusable vaginal speculums

Summary: This study conducted a systematic review of comparative life-cycle assessments (LCAs) to assess the environmental effects of replacing single-use healthcare products with reusable ones. The results showed that switching to reusable products could reduce most environmental impacts except for water use.

Summary: This study conducted a life cycle assessment to compare the environmental impacts of disposable and reusable vaginal speculums. The results showed that in some aspects, the reusable stainless-steel speculum outperformed the disposable acrylic speculum, but not in all categories. Therefore, the choice of which speculum to use should be based on specific environmental objectives.