A new study finds that virtual care during the Covid-19 pandemic led to a significant reduction in CO2 emissions and patient travel-related expenses, such as gasoline, parking or public transit costs.
At this year's Medica (Nov 14-17), the Health IT Forum offers a special focus on how health IT can contribute to more sustainability in healthcare, and on optimising treatment workflows.
A company’s impact on society, economy and the environment cannot be measured in financial terms alone – and hospitals are no exception. On the contrary: the idea of measuring the quality of healthcare only in economic terms has always been fraught with problems. Hospitals as organizations have always played an important social role, and their environmental impact is increasingly recognized.
John Kotcher from George Mason University says that emphasizing the health implications of climate change is one of best ways to engage the public to fight for better policies.
Surgeons completed the first documented ‘net zero’ operation in the NHS, combining evidence-based approaches and documents using a carbon output calculator developed specifically for this task.
Climate change and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are forming an alarming alliance: Global warming creates new breeding grounds for resistant bacteria. A serious and very real threat to public health – but not quite the doomsday scenario some might make it out to be, says Prof Sabiha Essack from the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa.
Hygienic, single-use components are widely used in endoscopy to ensure patient safety but are considered wasteful. Reprocessing is a more sustainable alternative but requires special equipment and training to avoid equipment contamination. This creates an area of conflict for physicians, hospital staff, but also for manufacturers. We spoke with two experts at Pentax Medical about challenges in…
Contrast agents in the wastewater and power-hungry imaging systems: The eco-footprint of healthcare is huge, and radiology departments are among the main culprits. An expert panel at the ECR Overture explored ways to make the field “greener”.
'Unite behind the science' is an essential appeal from climate activist figurehead Greta Thunberg – and so they did: Over 200 health journals across the world have come together to simultaneously publish an editorial calling on world leaders to take emergency action to limit global temperature increases, halt the destruction of nature, and protect health. While recent targets to reduce…
Global greenhouse gas emissions over the last century have made southern China a hotspot for bat-borne coronaviruses, by driving growth of forest habitat favoured by bats. A new study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment provides the first evidence of a mechanism by which climate change could have played a direct role in the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the…
COVID-19 has rocked health care systems, revealing vulnerabilities in our supply chain, piling up unprecedented costs, and creating an alarming amount of medical waste. The health care sector was already a major source of pollution. The World Health Organization points to the burning and incineration of health care waste as a source of dioxins, furans, and particulate matter emissions that…
A new study quantifies the public health costs of polluted air from existing coal-fired power plants in Turkey up to €3.6 billion per year and shows why massive future investment plans (80 new plants) are a major concern. The air pollution from burning coal for electricity generation in Turkey already causes premature deaths, chronic lung disease and heart conditions - moving away from fossil…
The time when 'going green' in healthcare only referred to the colour of surgical gowns are long past: reducing CO₂ emissions, improving waste management and saving energy are essential for modern hospitals. Keep reading to find out what medical institutions can do to become more sustainable.