Changes in the Healthcare Industry That Could Have a Positive Impact on Environmental Health
Today, businesses across a variety of industries are having to take a good look at all the different ways their business processes are affecting the environment. One industry that is now being encouraged to minimize its negative impact on the world around us is healthcare.
Thankfully, key initiatives can help to minimize the damage being done by healthcare organizations and transform the way that this industry impacts the world.
Here are changes in the healthcare industry that could have a positive impact on environmental health.
Telehealth
While telehealth is beginning to be championed in the healthcare space for a variety of reasons, one significant, yet often overlooked, benefit of this new healthcare process is its impact on the environment.
Specifically, when patients don’t have to drive or be transported to their healthcare provider, they reduce the number of pollutants in the air harming the environment. This means that the more that telehealth is looked at as a viable option for receiving medical care, the more the environment will thrive.
Even if patients only started conducting a percentage of their healthcare visits virtually and remotely, this would make a huge impact. This being the case, many who are concerned about the negative impact of the healthcare industry on the environment are now hopeful that telehealth will be a huge step in the right direction.
Beyond transportation, the utilization of the telehealth process also means that healthcare facilities will use fewer disposable items. These can include items such as gloves, linens, masks, and a wide variety of other disposables.
Given these significantly positive benefits, many are hopeful that the popularity of telehealth will continue to rise and have an amazing impact on the environment. Hopefully, more organizations will start to encourage their patients to use telehealth services and benefit the environment.
Educating Staff About Environmentally Friendly Practices
While organizational leaders and administrators can put forth a number of plans and ideas to reduce their organization’s negative impact on the environment, these efforts will be in vain if staff isn’t on board as well. Whether it’s because they don’t realize the impact of their actions or they simply aren’t very concerned, a lack of staff collaboration is very damaging to environmentally friendly initiatives in the healthcare space.
On top of this, many employees are now showing that they value sustainable practices from their employers than ever before. This being the case, educating employees in this way has the potential to be a great healthcare worker and nurse retention strategy for healthcare organizations in today’s world.
For this reason, it’s vital that healthcare organizations take time to educate their staff about environmentally friendly practices and the impact that they can have. By prioritizing this type of training, the healthcare industry can be transformed and be a greater force of good in the world.
Increased Recycling Initiatives to Reduce Waste
Across a wide variety of industries, wasteful practices are dishearteningly common. Specifically, many organizations throw away a significant number of materials that can easily be recycled. As a result, the environment is being harmed by an increased amount of waste being produced by all of these organizations.
Sadly, the healthcare industry has historically been a big culprit behind these types of practices. Given the many disposable materials being used in healthcare facilities, these facilities typically produce an inordinate amount of waste on a regular basis.
Fortunately, a huge impact can be made if these various healthcare organizations change their approach to waste and start prioritizing recycling.
Some key initiatives and practices that healthcare organizations can start engaging in to reduce waste include:
- Utilizing hand dryers in restrooms
- Using items that can be washed, such as reusable linens and patient gowns
- Signifying what can and cannot be put in waste binds
- Ensuring leaders are requiring staff to be mindful of waste
Given the increased concern among employees about sustainability, seeing these changes in healthcare could be a key reason that aspiring professionals want to be nurses and healthcare workers.
The more that healthcare organizations are intentional about minimizing waste and championing recycling initiatives, the less the healthcare industry as a whole will harm the environment.
Utilizing Environmentally Safe Products and Reducing Energy Use
When engaging in practices promoting a healthy environment, using environmentally safe products and reducing energy use can go a long way. For the healthcare industry, these practices can make a substantial impact that has far-reaching benefits.
As one can imagine, a significant amount of cleaning products are used to sterilize and clean healthcare and medical facilities, especially in a post-COVID world. This being the case, organizations that use products that are harmful to the environment are having a significantly negative impact on the world around us.
However, by making an effort to prioritize the use of environmentally friendly products, organizations make a huge impact in the industry. If this shift were to take hold in organizations across the country, the environment would benefit in an incredibly substantial way.
In addition to using a significant amount of cleaning supplies, healthcare facilities also use an incredible amount of energy to power their operations. While this energy is vital to the care regimens of countless patients, the ways that many organizations are getting their energy are not.
Fortunately, changes in energy sources are well within the realm of possibility. By investing in environmentally friendly energy sources, such as solar power and wind power, scores of medical facilities could reverse their negative impact on the environment.
The Healthcare Industry Needs to Change Its Practices
While there are a wide variety of issues that need to be addressed in the American healthcare system, one significant, and often overlooked issue, is the environmental impact of healthcare facilities. Thankfully, there are ways that healthcare organizations can take action and radically alter how their operations affect the world around us.
