Single-use drug trays are widely used in anaesthesia procedures performed in Australia; however, their environmental impact has not been carefully assessed. A life cycle assessment was used to compare the carbon emissions resulting from the use of 10 types of single-use anaesthetic drug trays made [...]
Different methods to quantify the carbon impact of health care produce different answers. The top-down method, environmentally extended input output (EEIO) analysis, uses financial data to track money flows of products and services between sectors within an economy. Knowing both the direct emissions of each [...]
Infusion sets (comprising the tubing, measuring burettes, fluid containers, transducers) that are connected to invasive vascular devices are changed on a regular basis in an effort to reduce bacterial colonisation and bloodstream infection. There is a balance between reducing infection and creating unnecessary waste. Current evidence suggests that for central venous catheters [...]
A pressing need exists for hemodialysis resource usage data based on current-day practice and hemodialysis systems. Accordingly, this study aimed to measure and compare the water and energy requirements of hemodialysis equipment in use in 2 Australian satellite hemodialysis units under standard operating conditions. Power [...]
The delivery of modern healthcare is inadvertently exacerbating illness and injury to populations through its own pollution. The global healthcare sector—health services and its medical supply chain—is responsible for approximately 5% of global net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (>2 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e)) [...]
As climate change escalates with increasing health impacts, healthcare must address its carbon footprint. A critical first step is understanding the sources and extent of emissions from commonly utilised clinical care pathways. We used attributional process-based life cycle analysis to quantify CO2 equivalent emissions associated [...]
Climate change threatens human health and increases demand for healthcare. Global temperature is rising in near linear relationship with increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) in Earth’s atmosphere, bringing hotter and more extreme weather. Health consequences include direct injuries, deaths and illness, and indirect effects such as [...]
The environmental impacts of healthcare are an important factor that should be considered during health technology assessments. This study aims to summarise the evidence that exists about methods to include environmental impacts in health economic evaluations and health technology assessments.
July 2023 marked the hottest month on record, underscoring the urgent need for action on climate change. The imperative to reduce carbon emissions extends to all sectors, including health care, with it being responsible for 5.5% of global emissions. In decarbonizing health care, although much [...]
Climate change should be incorporated in to educational and training programmes for all health professionals to ensure they are able to urgently adapt and transition our health systems to low carbon and low waste models of care and to become climate resilient. However, the uptake [...]