Geisinger Changes Anesthetic to Reduce Carbon Footprint

In a continued effort to reduce its carbon footprint, Geisinger will stop using the anesthetic gas, Desflurane, for surgical cases due to its significant environmental impact.

The elimination of desflurane will not impact patient safety as there are equally safe alternatives, according to Matthew Desciak, M.D., chair of Geisinger’s Anesthesiology Department.

While desflurane does offer some benefits, such as clearing patients’ systems quickly, it’s a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential more than 2,500 times that of carbon dioxide. 

“Discontinuing the use of desflurane will have the largest impact of our green initiatives,” Desciak said. “Using this agent at a typical flow rate for eight hours has the equivalent environmental impact as driving a car from Danville to Mexico.”

In place of desflurane, Geisinger will emphasize the use of anesthesia gases with lower global warming potential and focus on using the minimal amount of these gases. This will allow the system to provide the same level of safe patient care with a lower overall environmental impact.

In 2023, the department joined seven other health systems including Kaiser Permanente to look for ways to reduce department waste while still offering world-class care to patients in central Pennsylvania.

This initiative is already in place at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre and will roll out systemwide throughout the rest of 2024.