![Image Credit
[Description: Doctor taking a woman's blood pressure and nurse writing on a clip board]](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/55d6dd35-7a93-4cbd-a9c7-67c106995ca2/50634061.jpg)
Want to listen to this article? Click the "play" button to listen on Anchor!
Want to listen to this article? Click the "play" button to listen on Anchor!
$$ \substack{ \colorbox{pink}{\tiny \color{pink}a\hspace{7em}}\\[-0.7em] \colorbox{FAE6FA}{\normalsize\color{FAE6FA}a\hspace{11em}}\\[-0.8 em] \normalsize\color {black} \text{Reflection on Healthcare} } $$
This issue of Etherealism is exploring different industries of sustainability. I am a student nurse in my first year of nursing school, so healthcare has always been the center of attention for me. As an active entity in the healthcare industry and Etherealism, I wondered, “Huh…is the healthcare industry sustainable?”
For instance, if you come into a patient's room with supplies from the supply room, you cannot put them back even if you do not use them. It also cannot be utilized for another patient since it was exposed to other bacteria, so it ends up as wasted inventory. This practice is standard across all healthcare disciplines to ensure safe and sanitary practices are constantly in place in the hospital/clinic's workflow. Another example is the waste of personal protective equipment such as masks, gloves, and gowns. Out of all the equipment mentioned above, disposable masks carry the biggest amount of waste, but is there a more sustainable option when hospitals are fighting for masks altogether?
[Description: Podcast on Healthcare Sustainability]
[Description: Podcast on Healthcare Sustainability]
Well, it turns out that I'm not the first person who had this thought because as I was researching, I found this podcast from The Economist.
Image Credit [Description: Doctor taking a woman's blood pressure and nurse writing on a clip board]
$$ \substack{ \colorbox{pink}{\tiny \color{pink}a\hspace{7em}}\\[-0.7em] \colorbox{FAE6FA}{\normalsize\color{FAE6FA}a\hspace{6em}}\\[-0.8 em] \normalsize\color {black} \text{The Lowdown} } $$
In this episode of the Asia Perspectives Podcast, Jason Wincuinas speaks to Rohit Sahgal, EIU's Principal for global health in Asia, about the sustainability of healthcare ecosystems.
$$ \substack{ \colorbox{pink}{\tiny \color{pink}a\hspace{7em}}\\[-0.7em] \colorbox{FAE6FA}{\normalsize\color{FAE6FA}a\hspace{6em}}\\[-0.8 em] \normalsize\color {black} \text{A Broad Start} } $$
Even understanding the most significant sustainability challenges in healthcare is difficult because of the nature of healthcare. Many sustainability issues are interrelated in the complexities of each other. These instances happen in private and public healthcare in any nation (emerging, developing, and underdeveloped). There can be a large deviation between private and public healthcare, but they still coincide with inefficiency and massive waste creation dilemmas.
Think about an average hospital:
However, the hospital is just the surface of the healthcare sustainability predicament. Think about this:
How do products like surgical gowns, gloves, and gauze get there?
What about parking and infrastructure? Maintenance of these areas is still important to the entire ecosystem of healthcare.
All these elements come together to create a necessary resource for society.
$$ \substack{ \colorbox{pink}{\tiny \color{pink}a\hspace{7em}}\\[-0.7em] \colorbox{FAE6FA}{\normalsize\color{FAE6FA}a\hspace{7em}}\\[-0.8 em] \normalsize\color {black} \text{A Societal Issue} } $$
During the interview, they discussed the idea of healthcare not just being an issue for hospitals or healthcare facilities, but a societal issue.
Think of the number of components that go into widespread healthcare. Shouldn't everyone have to be involved?
At this point in time, I wish to introduce a concept deeply rooted into my nursing curriculum: Healthy People.
Healthy People is a set of public health objectives that is determined every 10 years by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People identifies public health priorities to help individuals, organizations, and communities across the United States improve general health and well-being.
<aside> 💡 Learn more about Healthy People 2030 here.
</aside>
I bring this to light because there has been a shift in healthcare from a curative model to a preventative model.
When healthcare focuses on primary prevention such as immunizations and better access to healthcare, emphasizing exercise and leaving the sedentary life, it helps alleviate the sustainability problem since it lowers the acuity of care. This means facilitating fewer hospital visits, less travel time for patients, and reduced medical supply demand.
$$ \substack{ \colorbox{pink}{\tiny \color{pink}a\hspace{7em}}\\[-0.7em] \colorbox{FAE6FA}{\normalsize\color{FAE6FA}a\hspace{11.5em}}\\[-0.8 em] \normalsize\color {black} \text{Efficiency vs Sustainability} } $$
Efficiency and sustainability are at odds with each other. With each "cut" made for sustainability, there seems to be a cost at the expense of efficiency. That begs the question: Where do we draw the line?
Healthcare is 24/7. There is no standstill, so that means that efficiency is a significant factor of health. However, with healthcare being a constant, there is a range of available solutions and resources to sustain that system. These sustainable solutions would include controlling waste, technological advances, and so much more.
![Image Credit
[Description: Doctor listening to patient with a stethoscope]](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/d05d3299-5b49-4bde-ba0b-ef3b2c152754/49902241.jpg)
Image Credit [Description: Doctor listening to patient with a stethoscope]
$$ \substack{ \colorbox{pink}{\tiny \color{pink}a\hspace{7em}}\\[-0.7em] \colorbox{FAE6FA}{\normalsize\color{FAE6FA}a\hspace{8em}}\\[-0.8 em] \normalsize\color {black} \text{Adopt and Adapt!} } $$
To make healthcare a greener endeavor, we need to adopt and adapt better evidence-based practices for essential services.
The physicality of being in a hospital was turned on its head during the pandemic. Hour-long waits, moving from doctor to doctor, and travelling to various places for care were synonymous with the healthcare experience. However, the rise of virtual resources like video conferencing, electronic health records, and patient data repositories have innovated the way that healthcare works today.
For instance, physicians can have remote consultations with regular patients suffering chronic pain at home, meaning they do not have to wait or travel long distances to get to their primary care provider. This overall reduces the carbon footprint of each hospital and patient, making a more sustainable industry.
During the interview, Rohit Sahgal mentioned that big tech companies like Microsoft and Google are partnering with hospitals to produce solutions such as e-triage systems. According to Hopkins Medicine, e-triage uses an algorithm to predict patient outcomes based on a system engineering approach and advanced machine learning methods to identify relationships between predictive data and patient outcomes. For example, when a nurse takes a patient's vitals, signs and symptoms, pain rating, and health history, the e-triage tool compares that data to hundreds of other like patients to make predictions.
As a case in point, there could be a patient waiting to know if they need to see a doctor about an illness, with no appointments available, so they are left in limbo. With these innovative technologies, appointments can be booked instantly from the convenience of one's home. As a result, patients can be seen on an easier and more accessible level.
![Image Credit
[Description: Doctor on a computer screen talking to a patient]](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/e9860df8-185e-47fe-9235-1a8db5734a26/Untitled.png)
Image Credit [Description: Doctor on a computer screen talking to a patient]
Smart healthcare can be comparable to smart cities, which are created to increase livability. This notion of smart health facilitates more efficient and sustainable practices:
There is a surge of convergence in healthcare where fluid technology is mixed with other medical specialties or areas to benefit the current systems in place. To illustrate, pharmacies can manage client medications: track stock/ inventory, administer prescriptions, log symptoms, highlight errors, and so much more
As mentioned previously, traditional hospital health management has been flipped on its head. According to Tian et al. in their 2019 article, new models emphasize real-time self-monitoring of patients, immediate feedback of health data, and timely intervention of medical behavior with the emergence of wearable devices.
<aside> 💡 [Learn more about smart healthcare here.](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2414644719300508#!)
</aside>
$$ \substack{ \colorbox{pink}{\tiny \color{pink}a\hspace{7em}}\\[-0.7em] \colorbox{FAE6FA}{\normalsize\color{FAE6FA}a\hspace{12em}}\\[-0.8 em] \normalsize\color {black} \text{Technological Consequences} } $$
People often think of the future of healthcare and how it will be impacted with the incorporation of smart AI. Public health and government associated issues include data privacy, patient privacy, accessibility, and safe data storage. Loss of patient data in technological malfunction and data leaks is the biggest barrier. This would completely overturn HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and the overall policy on patient information management.
$$ \substack{ \colorbox{pink}{\tiny \color{pink}a\hspace{7em}}\\[-0.7em] \colorbox{FAE6FA}{\normalsize\color{FAE6FA}a\hspace{5em}}\\[-0.8 em] \normalsize\color {black} \text{Takeaways} } $$
Sustainability in healthcare is always a tough topic because of the necessity of care. It is also complex due to the millions of elements and puzzle pieces that come along with the healthcare system.
Consistency and efficiency coupled with round-the-clock preparedness are always in constant opposition with sustainability, but it remains a challenge we must undertake as the only way we can maintain both ours and Mother Earth's health.
Sustainability goes beyond just reducing waste; it involves proactively finding ways to lessen the carbon footprint of every hospital and every patient. New modern technologies assist in innovative ways such as electronic health records, virtual conferencing, and real-time self-monitoring devices.
The healthcare industry still has a long way to go, but the industry is making big strides that could lead to a healthier, more sustainable world.
<aside> <img src="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/ea4507f9-b894-4096-bfb1-317df30773d8/icons8-arrow-64.png" alt="https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/secure.notion-static.com/ea4507f9-b894-4096-bfb1-317df30773d8/icons8-arrow-64.png" width="40px" /> Buy Me a Coffee | All My Socials
</aside>
