IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i18p6747-d1238425.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Identifying Environmental Impact Factors for Sustainable Healthcare: A Scoping Review

Author

Listed:
  • Marieke Sijm-Eeken

    (Department of Medical Informatics, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC Location University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    Center for Sustainable Healthcare, Amsterdam UMC, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

  • Monique Jaspers

    (Department of Medical Informatics, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC Location University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    Center for Human Factors Engineering of Health Information Technology, Amsterdam UMC, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

  • Linda Peute

    (Department of Medical Informatics, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC Location University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    Center for Human Factors Engineering of Health Information Technology, Amsterdam UMC, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Abstract

The healthcare industry has a substantial impact on the environment through its use of resources, waste generation and pollution. To manage and reduce its impact, it is essential to measure the pressures of healthcare activities on the environment. However, research on factors that can support these measurement activities is unbalanced and scattered. In order to address this issue, a scoping review was conducted with the aims of (i) identifying and organizing factors that have been used to measure environmental impact in healthcare practice and (ii) analyzing the overview of impact factors in order to identify research gaps. The review identified 46 eligible articles publishing 360 impact factors from original research in PubMed and EBSCO databases. These factors related to a variety of healthcare settings, including mental healthcare, renal service, primary healthcare, hospitals and national healthcare. Environmental impacts of healthcare were characterized by a variety of factors based on three key dimensions: the healthcare setting involved, the measurement component or scope, and the type of environmental pressure. The Healthcare Environmental Impact Factor (HEIF) scheme resulting from this study can be used as a tool for selecting measurable indicators to be applied in quality management and as a starting point for further research. Future studies could focus on standardizing impact factors to allow for cross-organization comparisons and on expanding the HEIF scheme by addressing gaps.

Suggested Citation

  • Marieke Sijm-Eeken & Monique Jaspers & Linda Peute, 2023. "Identifying Environmental Impact Factors for Sustainable Healthcare: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(18), pages 1-16, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:18:p:6747-:d:1238425
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/18/6747/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/18/6747/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lara Schmidt & Sabine Bohnet-Joschko, 2022. "Planetary Health and Hospitals’ Contribution—A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-12, October.
    2. Sayed Samed Talibi & Teresa Scott & Rahim A. Hussain, 2022. "The Environmental Footprint of Neurosurgery Operations: An Assessment of Waste Streams and the Carbon Footprint," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-7, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Reem F. Alruwaili & Nourah Alsadaan & Abeer Nuwayfi Alruwaili & Afrah Ghazi Alrumayh, 2023. "Unveiling the Symbiosis of Environmental Sustainability and Infection Control in Health Care Settings: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-16, November.
    2. Anna Savoldelli & Daniele Landi & Caterina Rizzi, 2024. "Exploring Quantitative Methodologies for Assessing the Environmental, Social, and Economic Impacts of Telemedicine: A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-25, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alexander Cimprich & Steven B. Young, 2023. "Environmental footprinting of hospitals: Organizational life cycle assessment of a Canadian hospital," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(5), pages 1335-1353, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:18:p:6747-:d:1238425. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.