Sustainability and Healthcare: How to make hospitals more sustainable

Hospitals and other medical institutions are in charge of keeping people healthy, but what about the environment? Many hospital administrators are concerned about sustainability, but implementing green measures while maintaining an efficient, patient-centred facility is difficult.

Any hospital that wants to “go green” and reduce its environmental impact should reduce its energy usage, trash disposal, and chemical use. Hospitals may save millions of dollars by implementing sustainability programmes, but the question arises where to start from. Sustainability is significant for reasons other than its environmental benefits. It can also aid in the more effective operation of hospitals.

According to Hospitals and Health Networks, sustainability can lower costs, lower hazards, and improve public perception. This article provides you an outline of how hospitals can become sustainable and improve the health of people and the planet. 

How to instil sustainability in the healthcare sector?

With public health and climate change at the forefront of global concerns, now is an excellent time for hospitals and healthcare facilities to transition to more sustainable practices. Today’s healthcare facilities are under a lot of financial and regulatory pressure to transform operational efficiency, improve patient care, and lower their carbon footprint. Some of the ways hospitals can move towards sustainability and become eco-friendly include-

1. More establishments are abandoning fossil fuels favouring renewable energy sources, including solar panels, wind turbines, and hydroelectric power plants. Heating and cooling expenditures can be reduced by installing high-efficiency windows and HVAC systems. Automatic solar shades use natural light to add warmth in the winter and reduce air conditioning demand in the summer. Hospitals are using motion sensors to adjust lights in low-occupancy areas. Mercury and other metals are also eliminated when fluorescent lighting is replaced with LED bulbs. The cogeneration utility plant is a novel technology that is gaining prominence. Hospitals can get two types of energy from a single source with this system. Recycling exhaust heat to generate electricity is one form of cogeneration.

2. Hospitals might also become much greener if they began to use organic food. If there is any chance of becoming environmentally friendly, the food we eat must come from sustainable and environmentally favourable sources. We are responsible for the carbon footprint created by unsustainable food sources because we are subsidizing their company. As a result, hospitals would benefit significantly from sourcing their food and ingredients from local and organic enterprises. The closer the food businesses are to them, the fewer miles the food will have to go in transit, reducing carbon emissions still again.

3. According to Practice Greenhealth, hospitals in the United States generate more than 5.9 million tonnes of garbage each year. According to Reid, a major difficulty for hospitals is the variety of trash they produce, which makes ecologically appropriate disposal challenging. Organizations must, for example, disinfect regulated medical waste before it is disposed of in a landfill to prevent contamination of the environment. While some disinfection procedures, such as burial, are energy costly and have been linked to the discharge of toxic vapours, others, including autoclaving, chemical treatment, and microwaving, can vary greatly in terms of their environmental impact. Hospitals should inquire about the amount of electricity and chemicals used in their disinfection procedure and consider switching if a greener firm can be found.

4. Many chemicals used in hospitals can be hazardous under specific circumstances. LCD screens, fluorescent lamps, CRT monitors, flame retardant mattresses, wheelchair cushions, and infant bottles are among the offenders that may surprise hospitals. If you buy something from the wrong company, it could contain dangerous substances. Hospitals should think about what they buy and discard hazardous materials like batteries appropriately.

5. Even in operating rooms, it is possible to improve the quantity of total recyclable hospital trash from very little to 35 percent, saving money. The most obvious first step toward increasing recycling rates is to start with cardboard and paper products, which are still not always recyclable. Separating expensive hospital infectious waste from less expensive non-infectious trash is also critical. Several forms of hospital plastic, including PVC, may be recycled rather easily. PVC plastic from IV bags, face masks, and oxygen tubes are being converted into agricultural pipes and children’s play equipment by some Melbourne manufacturers collaborating with hospitals. Collaboration between healthcare personnel, infection prevention, environmental services, and recyclers is required for all recycling initiatives.

6. In the United Kingdom, the first electric ambulance was introduced last year. The car has a top speed of 75 miles per hour and can drive for up to 110 miles before recharging. Using electric ambulances instead of traditional ambulances reduces hazardous emissions.

7. Raising patient awareness is one of the most important things that healthcare practitioners and organizations must do first. Patients who are aware of their impact on the environment are more likely to approach their treatment environmentally sensitively. For example, instead of wasting petrol by driving to their hospital and doctor’s visits, they may use the bus. Some people may even decide to be extra active and ride their bikes! It’s also a good idea to spread the word about the advantages of recycling.

8. Daily, hospital staff must deal with a large amount of paperwork. This pertains to patient records as well as internal communications. However, as you can probably assume, all of that paper is incredibly harmful to the environment. However, there is a way around this: hospitals and healthcare providers must embrace digitization. They can fully eliminate all of their paperwork by becoming digital, which will save a lot of trees in the environment! But that’s not all; it will also assist hospitals in dealing with storage concerns.

9. Hospitals must also aim to discourage employees from driving to work. They have access to other forms of transportation, such as buses, trains, and bicycles. If they live close by, they could walk in each morning for a far more comfortable commute! To meet the government’s decreased CO2 emissions targets, we must aim to get as many automobiles off the road as possible in the coming years.

Conclusion

While environmentally friendly activities like digitizing records, using telemedicine, and purchasing local foods are normally done at the institution level, they aid the healthcare business. Patients will have a better experience if their healthcare is ecologically responsible, and they will be more likely to recommend a facility to their friends and family. Sustainable facilities are also more cost-effective on a bureaucratic level than their traditional equivalents, and a general commitment to sustainability might reduce healthcare expenses while also benefiting the environment.