Sustainability in Healthcare is a Healthy Trend
Patrick Boshell
Marketing Director @ SC Johnson Professional, North America. Helping people create safe, healthy & sustainable workplaces.
Did you know that 10% of the national greenhouse emissions in the world are generated by U.S. healthcare, and these emissions have increased more than 30% within the last decade (1)? If the global healthcare sector were a country, it would be the largest greenhouse gas producer on the planet (2). Hospitals matter to everyone and often mark a central point throughout our lives. We tend to focus on hospitals' positive impacts, such as saving lives and helping people get better. Seldom do we consider the damaging impact hospitals have on the environment and the fact that healthcare also unintentionally harms as it heals (3).??
Your local community hospital has a significant environmental footprint – consuming vast amounts of energy and materials plus generating a tremendous amount of waste (including hazardous materials) that goes into landfills and our atmosphere (3). It also relies heavily on transportation and global supply chains to keep it functioning. Sadly, as more people become ill, such as what we experienced with Covid-19, more strain is put on the system, and the negative climate impact continues in a harmful cycle.
The good news is that fifty countries have committed to decarbonizing their healthcare systems at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26), with fourteen of those countries setting net-zero carbon emission target dates from as early as 2030 (2). So, what are hospitals doing exactly to become more sustainable? According to a report compiled by the World Health Organization and Health Care Without Harm, there are seven universal elements a hospital can focus on to become more environmentally friendly (4). These include:
Three Pillars of Sustainability Applied to Healthcare
It is encouraging to see that many healthcare facilities are taking a strategic approach and implementing initiatives based on the three pillars of sustainability which include?economic, environmental, and social. Economic for a hospital relates to the consumption of goods and services and the benefits associated with sustainability. Environmental is closely linked to how the hospital operates and how it can focus on reducing its negative impact. Social is all about human capital, and in the case of hospitals, this is closely linked with improving the overall quality of care. Social considerations can also be integrated into the purchasing process to ensure that suppliers meet high ethical standards in their production and distribution processes. A fourth sustainability pillar of systems is also evolving in healthcare – closely linked to technology, staff retention and resiliency (15).??
In practice, applying the pillars of sustainability in healthcare can have positive implications from an economic, environmental, social and systems perspective. For example, during the Covid-19 lockdowns, video platforms for appointments and meetings became a norm in healthcare – helping to reduce the amount of travel time needed, reducing the burning of fossil fuels, and helping non-essential in-person care continue. More and more hospitals are also moving to electronic record systems, which reduces the amount of paper needed – decreasing deforestation and improving a hospital's carbon footprint – while making it easier for healthcare professionals to serve their patients. Also, sterilizing, reusing, and recycling hospital equipment reduces waste and associated production costs, ultimately benefiting everyone. Even electric ambulances are becoming more common, helping reduce harmful emissions (5). All these initiatives have environmental and economic benefits, and, from a social perspective, help improve the quality of care and overall well-being within the hospital's community.
Going Green is Good for Health and the Bottom Line
Going green can help hospitals save, but it's often difficult to know where to start. One significant trend I have noticed in my professional experience with hospitals is "Procurement with Purpose." The basic idea is that most organizations (including hospitals) can do more to "change the world" through how they influence their suppliers and supply chain than by taking actions internally only (10).?
Procurement with purpose is all about positive purchasing or changing the way that organizations spend to help protect the planet and its people (14). Like most facilities, hospitals want to reduce their carbon footprint and waste, use more recycled materials, and reduce energy use. One way to achieve this is to focus on standard items used daily.
For example, hand hygiene is essential to help break the chain of infection in hospitals with soaps, sanitizers and antimicrobial cleansers used throughout the facilities. These products are already heavily mandated to ensure they meet high efficacy requirements. By leveraging procurement with purpose principles, purchasing can integrate sustainability into the selection criteria. In addition to high efficacy standards, the hospital can purchase formulations with eco-accreditations, plus maximize foam over liquid for additional water and energy savings.
Even hand hygiene dispensers can be purchased with recycled plastics, plus specifications can be set to ensure that all packaging and waste materials are recyclable. These may seem like minor considerations, but when you consider the magnitude of medical supplies and equipment that hospitals purchase plus all the associated supply chain resources needed to run a facility – you begin to realize the significant impact of positive purchasing. Additionally, hospitals are increasingly leveraging the power of buying groups to collectively purchase for economies of scale and further integrate the pillars of sustainability into the procurement process on a larger scale, such as municipal or provincial in Canada.
Healthcare leadership recognizes that hospitals harm the environment and are committed to making changes as part of a strategic sustainability focus. These initiatives start at a community level, but collectively they can help our world heal while creating a more sustainable future for everyone. The bottom line is that sustainability is good for the planet, people's health, and profit – which ultimately helps improve the quality of care for all of us and our loved ones.
[Please note this is a personal article and does not represent the views of SC Johnson Professional]
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