Hospital climate actions and assessment tools: a scoping review protocol

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Public Health
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Climate change exacerbates health risks and the healthcare sector contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.
• Hospital climate action, including energy efficiency and waste reduction, is vital for mitigating climate change impacts.
• A lack of synthesized literature challenges hospital leadership in tracking climate action effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review summarizing current knowledge on hospital climate action.
• To identify existing tools for measuring progress in hospital climate initiatives.
• To aid understanding and accelerate climate action implementation in healthcare settings.

Main Methods:

• Scoping review following the Arksey and O'Malley protocol.
• Literature search across Medline, Scopus, Embase, CINAHL, and Google Scholar.
• Inclusion of studies on hospital climate mitigation and adaptation since 1997.
• Quantitative and thematic analysis of study results.

Main Results:

• Synthesis of current knowledge on hospital climate actions.
• Identification of various tools used to measure progress in climate initiatives.
• Highlighting the growing but incomplete nature of global hospital climate action.

Conclusions:

• This review provides a valuable synthesis to guide hospital climate action.
• Findings will support the International Health Promoting Hospital and Health Services (HPH) and Global Green and Healthy Hospital (GGHH) networks.
• Dissemination through peer-reviewed publications and network conferences will accelerate implementation.