The Harm We Do: The Environmental Impact of Medicine
While often unseen and infrequently discussed, the environmental impact of hospital systems and healthcare providers is substantial. However, some US hospitals and healthcare systems have developed innovative approaches to reduce their environmental impact while reducing costs. In this perspective, we discuss how hospitalists may support ongoing environmental efforts through education and awareness, measurement and amelioration, public reporting, and individual actions. Given the extent of healthcare’s impact on the environment, the benefits of interventions, and the link between hospitalists and hospitals, We must minimize the harm we do.
© 2018 Society of Hospital Medicine
Given that hospitalists play a key role in educating students and residents, they are ideal vehicles for such dissemination. Education should begin in medical and nursing schools, where curricula detailing the importance and impact of healthcare pollution may be introduced. As hospitalists, we should champion such efforts.
Measurement and Amelioration
Second, resource use, waste production, and areas for improvement must be systematically quantified. At a national level, the Sustainable Development Unit of the National Health System (NHS) measures and reports water use, waste production, and energy consumption of the UK’s healthcare sector. Consequently, the NHS has surpassed their 2015 goal of reducing their carbon footprint by 10%.17 By establishing a baseline understanding of our carbon emissions, waste production, and water consumption, areas where physicians and hospitals can target improvement can similarly be identified.
Hospitalists appreciate the practical tradeoffs between clinical work and change efforts; thus, they are critical in establishing pragmatic policies. Physicians, often in collaboration with environmental engineers, have used evidence-based methods such as life-cycle analysis (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts of the pharmaceuticals and procedures that they use.18-20 An LCA is a cost-benefit analysis that examines multiple parameters of a product, namely, emissions, water use, costs, and waste production, from production to disposal. For example, an LCA of disposable custom packs for hysterectomies, vaginal deliveries, and laryngeal masks found costs savings and environmental benefits from choosing reusable over single-use items and removing unnecessary materials such as extra towels in this setting. 18-20 By considering the full life cycle of a procedure, LCAs reveal important information about the value and safety of care. LCAs, along with other sustainable design strategies, are tools that can provide hospitalists with new insights for quality improvement.
Public Reporting
Numerous physicians are known for educating their communities about the impacts of pollution on health. Recently, a pediatrician brought the presence of lead in Flint’s water supply to the public’s attention, instigating government action and policy change.21 A group called Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment publishes online summaries of peer-reviewed information on air pollution and health. The Huma Lung Foundation led by a pulmonologist in Chennai, India, is working with a local radio station to report daily air quality measurements along with health advisories for the city.
We must now extend this paradigm to encompass transparency about healthcare’s practices and their impact on health. Indeed, the public is comfortable with this idea: a survey of 1011 respondents in the UK found that 92% indicated that the healthcare system should be environmentally sustainable.22 One idea may be a public-facing scorecard for hospitals, akin to publicly reported quality metrics. We can look to the example of the SDU and corporations such as Apple, which publicly report their carbon emissions, waste production, water use, and other metrics of their environmental impact. By galvanizing efforts to quantify and report our impact, hospitalists have the opportunity to be a role model for the industry and increase trust within their communities.
Individual Actions
What can a hospitalist do today? First, simple measures, like turning off idle electronics, recycling appropriately, or avoiding the use of unnecessary supplies or tests, are behavioral steps in the right direction. Second, just as education, goal setting, and feedback have met success in improving hand hygiene,23 we must begin the hard work of developing programs to monitor our environmental impact. Individual hospitalist carbon scores may help intensify efforts and spur improvement. Finally, we should learn and celebrate each other’s success. Renewed focus on this topic with increased reporting of interventions and outcomes is needed.
CONCLUSIONS
As hospitalists, we must look within ourselves to protect our planet and advocate for solutions that assure a sustainable future. By recognizing that a healthy environment is crucial to human health, we can set an example for other industries and create a safer world for our patients. Eliminating the harm we do is the first step in this process.
Disclosures
The authors have nothing to disclose.
Funding
Dr. Chopra is supported by a Career Development Award from the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research (1-K08-HS-022835-01).
