Department of Medical Informatics, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute, Amsterdam UMC Location University of Amsterdam, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Center for Sustainable Healthcare, Amsterdam UMC, Meibergdreef 9, 1105 AZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Sep 12;20(18):6747. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20186747.
The healthcare industry has a substantial impact on the environment through its use of resources, waste generation and pollution. To manage and reduce its impact, it is essential to measure the pressures of healthcare activities on the environment. However, research on factors that can support these measurement activities is unbalanced and scattered. In order to address this issue, a scoping review was conducted with the aims of (i) identifying and organizing factors that have been used to measure environmental impact in healthcare practice and (ii) analyzing the overview of impact factors in order to identify research gaps. The review identified 46 eligible articles publishing 360 impact factors from original research in PubMed and EBSCO databases. These factors related to a variety of healthcare settings, including mental healthcare, renal service, primary healthcare, hospitals and national healthcare. Environmental impacts of healthcare were characterized by a variety of factors based on three key dimensions: the healthcare setting involved, the measurement component or scope, and the type of environmental pressure. The Healthcare Environmental Impact Factor (HEIF) scheme resulting from this study can be used as a tool for selecting measurable indicators to be applied in quality management and as a starting point for further research. Future studies could focus on standardizing impact factors to allow for cross-organization comparisons and on expanding the HEIF scheme by addressing gaps.
医疗保健行业通过其资源利用、废物产生和污染对环境产生重大影响。为了管理和减少其影响，必须衡量医疗保健活动对环境的压力。然而，支持这些测量活动的因素的研究是不平衡和分散的。为了解决这个问题，进行了范围综述，目的是（i）确定和组织用于衡量医疗保健实践中环境影响的因素，以及（ii）分析影响因素的概述，以确定研究空白。该综述从 PubMed 和 EBSCO 数据库中确定了 46 篇符合条件的文章，这些文章发表了 360 个源自原始研究的影响因素。这些因素涉及各种医疗保健环境，包括精神保健、肾脏服务、初级保健、医院和国家保健。医疗保健的环境影响由基于三个关键维度的各种因素来描述：所涉及的医疗保健环境、测量组成部分或范围以及环境压力类型。本研究产生的医疗保健环境影响因素（HEIF）方案可用作选择可衡量指标的工具，应用于质量管理，并作为进一步研究的起点。未来的研究可以集中于标准化影响因素，以允许跨组织比较，并通过解决空白来扩展 HEIF 方案。
