Towards a green hospital approach in Oman: A case study of quantifying an environmental impact

• Published in: The International journal of health planning and management Vol. 38; no. 5; pp. 1583 - 1589
• Main Authors: Al Fannah, Jehan, Al Sabahi, Sultana, Al Harthi, Hasina, Al Bahrani, Maher, Al Salmi, Qasem
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.09.2023
• Subjects: Anesthesia; Carbon; carbon emissions; Carbon footprint; Case studies; Clinics; Consumption; COVID-19; Data base management systems; Emission analysis; Emissions; environment; Environmental impact; Environmental management; Environmental monitoring; Environmental policy; Footprint analysis; Gases; green hospital; Health care; Health care industry; Health education; Health information; Health planning; Health services; Hospitals; Information management; Inhalation; inhaled anaesthetic gases; Isoflurane; Oman; Pandemics; Public health; Resource management; Respiration; Savings; Sevoflurane; Sustainability; Telemedicine; Tracking; Travel; Oman; telemedicine; environment; carbon emissions; inhaled anaesthetic gases; Oman; green hospital; health care
• ISSN: 0749-6753; 1099-1751
• DOI: 10.1002/hpm.3662

Introduction The environmental impact of hospitals and healthcare providers practices is substantial, although often unnoticed and infrequently tracked. A green and healthy hospital is one that promotes public health by continuously monitoring and reducing its environmental impact. Methods We adopted a descriptive case study design with a multi‐dimensional evaluation and monitoring of carbon emission equivalence (CO2e) using two examples from a tertiary care hospital practice in Oman. One example (1) was related to inhalation anaesthetic gases (IAG) consumption and the second example (2) was related to estimation of telemedicine clinics (TMCs) CO2e travel‐related savings. Results The cumulative consumption of three different (1) IAG over three years (2019, 2020, 2021) was generated with estimated CO2e for each year for sevoflurane, isoflurane and desflurane. Desflurane had the lowest consumption with a yearly cumulative consumption of 6000 mL, 1500 mL, and 3000 mL for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021. The (2) TMCs during the first two years of the COVID‐19 pandemic travel related CO2e savings were in the range of 12.65–3483.1 tonnes. In the second year of launching this service it doubled to a range of 24–6610.5 tonnes of CO2e savings. Conclusion A green and healthy hospital approach of tracking and monitoring environmental impact of healthcare providers practices is critical for health planning and management of the environmental policy. This case study illustrated the importance of closely tracking hospital‐based practices from an environmental perspective towards a green hospital approach. Highlights Hospitals must promote sustainability and control environmental impact. Global Green Healthy Hospitals (GGHH) 10 Goals are a good starting place for guidance. Carbon footprint examples: telemedicine clinics (TMC) and anaesthetic gases. Health Information Management System (HIMS) is a good data source for footprint conversions.