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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Environmental and economic impact of sustainable anaesthesia interventions: a single-centre retrospective observational study
ClearSustainability in the Operating Room
Researchers review the outsized environmental footprint of surgical operating rooms — particularly from volatile anesthetic agents, medications, and single-use equipment — and argue that anesthesiology has exceptional leverage to reduce healthcare's greenhouse gas emissions and waste burden as part of a broader sustainability transformation in medicine.
Misconceptions about sustainable anaesthesia
This article addresses common misconceptions about environmentally sustainable practices in anesthesia, covering topics like anesthetic gas choices, single-use versus reusable equipment, and recycling in operating rooms. The authors emphasize that sustainability in healthcare goes beyond carbon footprint and includes broader environmental and social considerations.
Sustainability in anaesthesia and critical care: beyond carbon
Researchers reviewed the full environmental footprint of healthcare — going beyond greenhouse gas emissions to include water pollution, toxic chemicals, and microplastics — and found that drugs like propofol and antibiotics discharged into waterways, along with massive quantities of disposable plastic equipment, pose serious ecological risks. The article calls on clinicians and policymakers to adopt holistic strategies that reduce waste, limit single-use plastics, and account for the full spectrum of environmental harm.
Carbon Footprint of Anesthesia: Comment
This commentary on a study about the carbon footprint of anesthesia discusses methodological considerations for accurately accounting for greenhouse gas emissions from healthcare, including factors like electricity source variability. The authors commend the original study's detailed approach and encourage similar analyses across other surgical procedures. Reducing anesthesia-related carbon emissions is one component of healthcare's broader sustainability goals.
Green surgery: to reduce carbon footprint
This paper examines the environmental footprint of surgical procedures and proposes strategies for green surgery, including reduction of single-use plastic instruments and packaging that contribute to operating theater waste streams. The authors call for systemic changes in hospital procurement to reduce carbon emissions from healthcare.
#36915 D37 – the green footprint of regional anesthesia
This paper is not about microplastics; it is a conference abstract examining the carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions associated with regional anesthesia techniques in the context of healthcare's contribution to climate change.
Single‐use materials and poorly recycled waste in intensive care: An argument for improving sustainability
This article argues for improving sustainability in intensive care units by addressing the environmental impact of single-use plastics, paper, and other materials commonly used in clinical settings. The authors highlight that ICU waste is energy-intensive to produce and difficult to recycle, contributing significantly to healthcare's carbon footprint. The study calls for rethinking material choices and waste management practices in critical care to reduce plastic pollution and environmental harm.
Actionable avenues for dermatologists to reduce their environmental impact
This commentary outlines actionable steps dermatologists can take to reduce the environmental impact of healthcare delivery, including minimizing single-use plastics, reducing regulated medical waste, and implementing green procurement policies. Researchers highlighted opportunities for reassessing procedure kits, minimizing medication waste, and promoting environmentally conscious practices. The study underscores that healthcare settings are significant contributors to plastic waste and offers practical strategies for reducing that footprint.
Introducing Health-Climate-Economics and Rapid Viability Test for Candidate Solutions as a Tool for Automated Healthcare Procurement and Evaluation
This paper introduces a health-climate-economics framework for evaluating healthcare procurement decisions that account for climate and health co-benefits. It is not related to microplastics.
Environmentally sustainable critical care: Special issue introduction
This editorial introduces a special issue on environmentally sustainable critical care, highlighting the healthcare sector's significant contribution to climate change, air pollution, and waste generation. The authors discuss how the triple planetary crisis of environmental degradation is both worsened by and harmful to healthcare delivery. The piece calls for urgent action to reduce the environmental footprint of medical care, including addressing single-use plastics and waste management.
A Practical Guide for Physicians and Health Care Workers to Reduce Their Carbon Footprint in Daily Clinical Work
This commentary provides practical strategies for physicians and healthcare workers to reduce their individual carbon footprints in daily clinical practice, framing medical professionals as having a privileged duty to protect planetary health. The authors highlight that many carbon-reduction measures in clinical settings also carry direct health co-benefits.
Creating a circular healthcare economy
This paper examines the concept of creating a circular healthcare economy to address the environmental impact of the healthcare sector. The study suggests that transitioning from a linear to a circular model in healthcare could help reduce waste generation, carbon emissions, and resource consumption while maintaining quality of care.
Effects of transport–carbon intensity, transportation, and economic complexity on environmental and health expenditures
Researchers analyzed data from OECD countries from 2001 to 2020 and found that transport carbon intensity was positively and significantly associated with healthcare expenditures, with transportation-related household spending amplifying both carbon emissions and long-run health costs — suggesting that greener transport policy has compounding benefits for both climate and public health budgets.
Cobénéfices santé-environnement : concepts et recommandations pour la pratique clinique
This paper reviews the concepts of health-environment co-benefits within One Health, EcoHealth, and Planetary Health frameworks, providing clinical practice recommendations for healthcare professionals to integrate environmental co-benefit considerations — including reductions in plastic and chemical exposures — into patient counseling and healthcare system decision-making.
Sustainability Challenges in Diagnostic Healthcare: Environmental Risks and Policy Responses
Researchers examined the environmental sustainability challenges posed by diagnostic healthcare operations, including biomedical waste, single-use plastics, chemical residues, microplastics, and greenhouse gas emissions. The study identified structural barriers such as regulatory gaps, fragmented waste infrastructure, and insufficient environmental performance measurement. A multi-level policy framework is proposed covering strengthened regulation, circular economy strategies, decarbonization, and improved waste management to reduce the environmental footprint of diagnostic laboratories.
Infection prevention and control programme priorities for sustainable health and environmental systems
Researchers highlight a paradox in healthcare: infection prevention programs that protect patients and workers from disease also generate significant plastic waste and environmental harm. Addressing this trade-off is essential for building health systems that are both safe and truly sustainable.
Indicator-based environmental and social sustainability assessment of hospitals: A literature review
Researchers reviewed 88 studies on how hospitals measure their environmental and social sustainability, finding wide inconsistencies in what gets measured and how, with major gaps in tracking upstream supply-chain impacts like food and pharmaceuticals. The review proposes a standardized framework to help healthcare institutions better report on their sustainability performance.
Nurses as agents for achieving environmentally sustainable health systems: A bibliometric analysis
This bibliometric analysis examined the role of nurses in achieving environmentally sustainable health systems, finding a lack of experimental data and policies and highlighting that nurses should be included in sustainability decision-making within healthcare.
Thinking big and the WE ACT framework for environmentally sustainable critical care nursing
This paper introduces the WE ACT framework for environmentally sustainable critical care nursing, addressing the healthcare sector's contribution to climate change and plastic waste. The framework encourages nurses to consider waste reduction, energy use, advocacy, circular economy principles, and transformative change in their practice. The study highlights that healthcare generates significant microplastic and chemical pollution, making sustainability efforts in clinical settings essential for planetary health.
Hospital Workers’ Pro-environmental Behavior: A Qualitative Interview Study
Researchers conducted qualitative interviews with hospital workers to understand their perceptions and practices of pro-environmental behavior in healthcare settings. The study found uneven levels of environmental awareness among staff and identified key barriers including time constraints and institutional practices, as well as driving factors like personal values and organizational support.
Combining industrial ecology tools to assess potential greenhouse gas reductions of a circular economy: Method development and application to Switzerland
Researchers developed a framework combining multiple environmental analysis methods to assess how circular economy strategies — like plastic recycling, food waste reduction, and carbon capture — could cut Switzerland's greenhouse gas emissions by up to 14% by 2050.
Environmental stewardship in healthcare: Use of bio-plastics in surgery
This review examines the growing environmental burden of healthcare waste, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and evaluates the potential of bioplastics as sustainable substitutes for conventional single-use plastic surgical materials. The review advocates for bio-plastic adoption in surgery as part of broader environmental stewardship efforts in healthcare to reduce landfill waste, incineration emissions, and toxic chemical release.
The environmental awareness of nurses as environmentally sustainable health care leaders: a mixed method analysis
This study surveyed nurses about their environmental sustainability knowledge and practices, finding that most have adequate awareness but face barriers to sustainable behavior in the workplace. While not directly about microplastics, the study highlights the role healthcare workers can play in reducing medical plastic waste, a significant source of microplastic pollution.
Sustainability in Obstetrics and Gynecology
This review examines how the climate crisis disproportionately affects women and pregnant people through exposure to air pollution, extreme heat, and toxic substances. Researchers found that healthcare practices in obstetrics and gynecology, including operating rooms and neonatal units, also contribute to environmental harm through waste generation and carbon emissions. The study proposes strategies for decarbonizing clinical settings while improving health outcomes for vulnerable patient populations.