Public perception and attitudes towards health care, anesthesia, and climate change: a survey study

Hospitals and especially operating rooms are known to have a significant carbon footprint. With health care moving towards patient-centered care, we sought to investigate the perception and attitudes of patients and/or their family members towards health care, anesthesia, and climate change, and its influence on their care choices. We hypothesized that < 30% of our study population were aware of health care's significant contributions to climate change.

Following research ethics board approval and participants' consent, we conducted interviews using a questionnaire that queried participating patients' perceptions on climate change and their knowledge of health care's environmental impact. To determine if such perceptions influenced their care choices, we proposed two different anesthesia care choices with different environmental impacts for a hypothetical surgical scenario. Lastly, we sought to determine participants' interest in further information on the topic. We analyzed the survey responses for associations between participants' perceptions of climate change and on health care's carbon footprint with variables pertaining to participant characteristics, their anesthesia care choices, and interest in further knowledge.

Overall, 320 participants completed the survey, of whom 32% acknowledged health care "greatly contributes to climate change." Nevertheless, perceptions did not translate to care choices as many participants still opted for the choice deemed to have a greater environmental impact (45%). A strong association existed between perception of health care's environmental impact and level of education (P = 0.02).

Public perception of health care's contribution to climate change was poor albeit higher than anticipated. Participants' perceptions of climate change or health care's impact on the environment did not completely translate into choosing a less carbon-intensive anesthesia care modality for their own care. Efforts to inform patients regarding the environmental impact of anesthetic choices may have minimal impact on individual care choices.