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HealthcareLCA
The major hurdle in recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic would be the safe management of plastic waste generated from personal protective equipment and mitigating a plastic pollution crisis. Facemasks were adopted worldwide as the first line of defense against the COVID-19 pandemic, and their demand increased exponentially during the last few...
Read MoreObjective: To characterise the extent of unnecessary care in general surgery inpatients using a triple bottom line approach. Design: Patients with uncomplicated acute surgical conditions were retrospectively evaluated for unnecessary bloodwork according to the triple bottom line, quantifying the impacts on patients, healthcare costs and...
Read MoreDespite ‘green endoscopy’ has meanwhile been regarded as a highly relevant topic, the scientific basis of ongoing discussions and various position statements is poor. We developed a tool for calculating the yearly emissions of a middle-sized gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy unit in Germany (8000 procedures per year). Calculation was based on...
Read MoreObjective: Single-use flexible cystoscopes provide a safe and cost-effective evolution to current practice. However, the environmental impact of single-use devices needs to be considered in a healthcare system that is being increasingly scrutinised for its carbon footprint. We performed a single-centre simplified lifecycle analysis to compare the...
Read MoreThe growing production of pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals, e.g., methylcobalamin supplements, improves the health of people. This study assesses the environmental footprint of chewable methylcobalamin supplements in four packaging types: blister packs or bottles made of HDPE, PET, or glass. A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment is...
Read MoreHospital food waste has nutritional, economic and environmental impacts, and halving food waste is a sustainable development goal. This study aimed to quantify hospital food waste and its nutritional, environmental and financial values in medical and surgical wards. In a cross-sectional study in three educational hospitals, nutritional and...
Read MoreThere is increasing concern about rising carbon dioxide (CO ) emissions and hazardous impact on human health. This study quantifies the energy utilization of proton therapy, corresponding carbon footprint, and discusses possible offsetting strategies towards carbon-neutral healthcare operations. Patients treated between 07/2020 and 06/2021 using...
Read MoreThe primary aim of our study was to assess the environmental impact of moving from a standard to a lean and green model for a carpal tunnel decompression. We objectively measured the clinical waste generated, the number of single use items and the number of sterile instruments required for a standard procedure, and then moved to smaller...
Read MoreSingle-use items are frequently used for central venous catheter (CVC) insertions. In a previous study comparing a single-use kit to a kit containing reusable metal items, it was found that the carbon footprint was lower for the single-use kit, whereas the reusable kit was cheaper. We wanted to re-examine these findings in a contemporary European...
Read MoreConcern over climate change is growing in the healthcare space, and telemedicine has been rapidly expanding since the start of the COVID19 pandemic. Understanding the various sources of environmental emissions from clinic visits—both virtual and in-person—will help create a more sustainable healthcare system. This study uses a Life Cycle...
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