Background: As health care accounts for 4-5% of global carbon emissions, many health organisations have called for implementing sustainable development actions in health care. However, sustainable development measures in general practice are rarely implemented by physicians. The aim of this study was to explore the practices of general practitioners (GPs) in terms of sustainable development to identify which actions are appropriate and achievable.
Methods: A qualitative study was conducted in 12 French GPs using face-to-face or telephone interviews, transcribed verbatim and analysed through a global inductive analysis with constant comparison. Semi-structured interviews were focussed on waste management, relationships between health professionals, sustainable development, and GPs' activity.
Results: The mean age of the GPs was 42.8 years and they mainly worked in an urban environment. The interviews highlighted 4 themes. It appeared that a balance needs to be found between the environmental impact and the constraints related to medical care. To be able to think about integrating sustainable development into health care, GPs should make a personal commitment to change their routine. In practice, consumption should be reassessed, prescriptions and prevention reconsidered. These actions could be applied to the GPs' environment as role models for their patients, business leaders, and members of the healthcare system.
Conclusion: GPs felt concerned by sustainable development and were already involved in its implementation in their practice. Tools are available to help GPs to continue to implement their actions described in this article, but their impact remains to be investigated.
Keywords: general practice; one health; primary care; qualitative study; social responsibility; sustainable development.
In an era where global health is an increasing concern for the population, it appeared necessary to study the extent to which health professionals were willing to change their behaviours in their professional lives. This study was based on the interview of 12 French general practitioners and investigated their perspective on sustainable development and how they implemented it in their practice. Four main themes were highlighted. Some physicians did not spontaneously see the link between their practice and sustainable development. Our study showed that they were willing to adapt their practice despite organisational constraints and the difficulty in changing their behaviour.
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