The cost of waste of consumable materials in a surgical center.

OBJECTIVES to identify the types, quantities and cost of the consumable materials sent, used, returned unopened and wasted in surgical operations; to classify the incidences of waste as avoidable or unavoidable losses, and to calculate the rate of waste of the consumable materials in the peri-operative period in the Surgical Center of a São Paulo university hospital. METHOD a descriptive-exploratory case study with a quantitative approach. The convenience sample corresponded to 105 types of consumable materials sent for the 275 operations observed between February and May 2011. RESULTS the items wasted most were surgical sutures, surgical cotton sutures, and gauze compresses. The total cost of the waste was R$ 709.84. The mean percentage of waste in the sample was 9.34%, of which 1.23% was avoidable and 8.14% unavoidable. CONCLUSION the study evidenced that the effective management of material resources reduces the costs of the processes, and reduces waste.