Measuring environmentally sustainable health care: a scoping review

Michael Padget; Anitha Devadason; Iris Blom; Guilhem Molinie; Wynne Armand; Ann-Christine Duhaime; Jodi D Sherman; Jonathan Slutzman; Dionne Kringos

doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00162-1

Measuring environmentally sustainable health care: a scoping review

Lancet Planet Health. 2024 Sep;8(9):e675-e683. doi: 10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00162-1.

Authors

Michael Padget¹, Anitha Devadason², Iris Blom³, Guilhem Molinie⁴, Wynne Armand⁵, Ann-Christine Duhaime⁶, Jodi D Sherman⁷, Jonathan Slutzman⁸, Dionne Kringos⁹

Affiliations

¹ Center for the Environment and Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Center for the Environment and Health, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
³ Centre on Climate Change and Planetary Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
⁴ University of Rennes, École des Hautes Études en Santé Publique, The National Centre for Scientific Research, INSERM, Arènes Unité de Recherche Mixte 6051, Recherche sur les Services et le Management en Santé-Unit 1309, Rennes, France.
⁵ Center for the Environment and Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Center for the Environment and Health, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Center for the Environment and Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Center for the Environment and Health, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Neurosurgery, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.
⁷ Department of Anesthesiology, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA; Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
⁸ Center for the Environment and Health, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; Center for the Environment and Health, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.
⁹ Department of Public and Occupational Health, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC location, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Quality of Care, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

PMID: 39243783
DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00162-1

Abstract

Work to reduce environmental pollution from the health system is hampered by an absence of consensus on the definition of environmentally sustainable health care and the relevant measurement needed. This scoping review aims to encourage standardisation across sustainability efforts by examining how environmentally sustainable health care is defined and measured in current literature. We conducted a scoping review to identify candidate publications that included either a definition or description of environmentally sustainable health care or a measurement of the impact of health care on the environment. 328 publications were included in the final analysis. 52 publications included definitions or descriptions of environmentally sustainable health care. Results of the study highlight the heterogeneity in the current definition, measurement, and measurement calculation methods of environmentally sustainable health care in published literature. Work is needed to create more harmonised definitions and measurement to support progress and reduce environmental pollution from health care.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Conservation of Natural Resources
Delivery of Health Care*
Environmental Pollution
Humans
Sustainable Development