Identifying Environmental Impact Factors for Sustainable Healthcare: A Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Healthcare Management
• Public Health

Background:

• The healthcare industry significantly impacts the environment through resource use, waste, and pollution.
• Measuring healthcare's environmental impact is crucial for management and reduction, but supporting research is fragmented.
• Existing research lacks a structured approach to identifying and organizing environmental impact factors in healthcare.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and organize factors used to measure environmental impact in healthcare practice.
• To analyze the overview of these impact factors to identify research gaps.
• To develop a framework for measuring healthcare's environmental footprint.

Main Methods:

• A scoping review of eligible articles from PubMed and EBSCO databases.
• Identification and categorization of environmental impact factors across diverse healthcare settings.
• Analysis of impact factors based on healthcare setting, measurement scope, and environmental pressure type.

Main Results:

• The review identified 46 articles detailing 360 distinct environmental impact factors.
• Factors spanned various healthcare settings, including mental, renal, primary, and hospital care.
• A Healthcare Environmental Impact Factor (HEIF) scheme was developed, categorizing factors by setting, scope, and pressure type.

Conclusions:

• The developed HEIF scheme provides a tool for selecting measurable indicators for quality management.
• This framework serves as a foundation for future research into healthcare's environmental impact.
• Future research should focus on standardizing factors for cross-organizational comparison and expanding the HEIF scheme.