Healthcare Carbon Footprint Research Articles

Evaluating sustainability: a retrospective cohort analysis of the Oxfordshire therapeutic community.

BackgroundTherapeutic communities (TCs) could reduce the health care use of people with personality disorder (Davies S, Campling P and Ryan K, Psychiatrist 23:79–83, 1999; Barr W, Kirkcaldy A, Horne A, Hodge S, Hellin K and Göpfert M, J Ment Health 19:412–421, 2010) and in turn reduce the financial and environmental costs of services. Our hypothesis is that 3 years following entry to a TC service, patients have reduced subsequent health care use and associated reductions in financial costs and carbon footprint.MethodsA retrospective 4-year cohort study examined changes in health care use following entry to the Oxfordshire TC service. Comparative analysis was undertaken on a treated (n = 40) and a control group (referred but who declined treatment; n = 45). Financial costs and carbon footprint of health care use were calculated using national tariffs and standard carbon conversion factors. Mean changes in these outcomes were compared over 1, 2 and 3 years and adjusted for costs and carbon footprints in the year prior to joining the TC service.ResultsCompared to baseline, the group receiving TC care had greater reductions in financial costs and carbon footprint associated with A&E attendances (p = 0.04) and crisis mental health appointments (p = 0.04) than the control group. There were significantly greater reductions in carbon footprint for all secondary health care use, both physical and mental health care, after 3 years (p = 0.04) in the TC group.ConclusionsTC services may have the potential to reduce the financial cost and carbon footprint of health care.

Reducing Health Care's Carbon Footprint—The Power of Nursing

Global warming and environmentalism continue to be national and international issues as their complexities and implications become better understood. One ironic contributor to the degradation of the environment is the health care system. Serving as clinical laboratories, hotels, restaurants, and offices that never close, U.S. hospitals produce more than 2 million tons of waste annually. Although the consequences and significance of health care's carbon footprint are undeniable, strategies to reduce this impact are challenging. This article discusses how the role, traits, and knowledge of nurses combined with their positions in the health care system make them key players in creating an environmentally sustainable health care industry. With an analysis of environmental action versus inaction, this article explores how nurses at the forefront of health care are equipped to change practice that will reach far beyond the bedside.