[Sustainable development and hospital pharmacy: An overview of the situation in Quebec]

The healthcare sector contributes 4-7% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with hospital pharmacy activities accounting for a significant proportion of this footprint.

To describe the status of sustainable development (SD) in hospital pharmacy practice in Quebec.

A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among all heads of hospital pharmacy departments in Quebec. The questionnaire, distributed by email, included sections on organizational structure (n=13), proposed GHG reduction interventions and their impacts (n=54), barriers to implementation (n=6) and perceptions (n=14).

All 29 respondents provided usable data. A total of 97% of institutions (28/29) reported having a central SD committee with 54% (15/28) including a pharmacy department representative. In addition, 46% (14/29) reported an SD committee within Council of Physicians, Dentists, Pharmacists and Midwives of which 92% (13/14) included a pharmacy representative. Furthermore, 34% (10/29) reported an SD committee within the pharmacy department and 34% (10/29) indicated that a carbon footprint assessment had been conducted at their institution. Adoptions rates of the proposed interventions over the past 36 months varied across institutions, ranging from 14 to 89%. The main barriers identified were lack of time/personnel, lack of leadership or institutional planning and limited knowledge of effective interventions.

Several hospital pharmacy departements in quebec are engaged in SD initiatives and have implemented various measures. This survey establishes a baseline to assess the future implementation of such initiatives.