It is getting hot in California, which has us thinking about the massive carbon footprint of healthcare. The emergency department is famously resource-heavy, but can we save lives and reduce waste? Dr. David Barnes joins us to explain how going green isn’t just about being a “tree hugger”—it’s about saving money, cutting waste, and making our hospitals resilient against supply chain chaos.

Defining Healthcare Sustainability

Balancing Safety and Footprint: Sustainability in healthcare means delivering efficient, affordable care that minimizes resource waste while remaining clinically safe and meaningful.
The Power of Resiliency: A sustainable healthcare system is inherently a resilient one. Reducing reliance on single-use items and utilizing local renewable energy sources (like microgrids) protects hospitals from supply chain disruptions caused by geopolitical conflicts or weather-driven power grid failures.

The Three Scopes of Emissions

Scope 1 (Direct): Emissions directly produced by hospital operations, such as idling fleet vehicles and leaking anesthetic gases.
Scope 2 (Indirect): Purchased energy used to power and heat the facilities (e.g., local electricity and steam lines).
Scope 3 (Supply Chain): The largest bucket, making up 60% to 80% of healthcare emissions. This includes employee commutes, medical waste incineration, manufacturing of disposable devices, and food production.

Clinical Traps: Where We Waste the Most

Pre-packaged Kits: Studies show 75% to 80% of items inside specialized kits (like central lines) go completely unused and are thrown away.
Over-Preparation: Opening multiple single-use items (like various ET tube sizes) or donning full trauma PPE for minor injuries creates an immediate, unnecessary trash stream.
Pharmaceutical Waste: Standard packaging size leads to heavy drug wasting (e.g., using 5 mL from a 100 mL propofol bottle). This regulated medical waste is costly and energy-intensive to incinerate.
The Glove Epidemic: Glove overuse skyrocketed during COVID-19 and became a habit. Most routine encounters carry no contamination risk, making glove use clinically unnecessary.

Shifting the Culture

“Take What You Need, Leave What You Don’t”: Avoid opening supplies you may not need or bringing extra gauze or syringes into a room. Due to infection safety protocols, these often end up in the trash.
Watch Where You Toss: Keep coffee cups and paper out of the red biohazard bins. Regulated medical waste costs six times more to process and must be incinerated, creating massive greenhouse gas emissions.
Embrace Reprocessing & Reusables: Support partnerships with companies that safely clean and reuse devices historically labeled “single-use” (like EKG leads or waffle mattresses). Swap disposable plastic gowns for reusable cloth gowns that survive 90 washes.
Model the Behavior: Culture change takes patience and persistence. Instead of finger-wagging or shaming colleagues, visibly adopt sustainable habits to drive grassroots practice changes.

Key Takeaways for the ED Clinician

Speak up on bad design: Clinicians are on the front lines of waste. Advocate for local sustainability initiatives to grab the attention of hospital executives who handle major purchasing contracts.
Normalize virtual alternatives: Protect staff well-being and slash commuting emissions by offering Zoom or Teams options for short, solitary administrative meetings.
Keep it in perspective: Healthcare sustainability is about finding the sweet spot where clinical safety, resource utilization, and environmental impact meet.

Hosts:

Dr. Julia Magaña, Professor of Pediatric Emergency Medicine at UC Davis

Dr. Sarah Medeiros, Professor of Emergency Medicine at UC Davis

Guest:

Dr. David Barnes, Professor of Emergency Medicine, Director of ED Sustainability, and Member of the Sustainability Committee at UC Davis Health

Resources:

Practice Greenhealth

Health Care Without Harm

Green ED (Royal College of Emergency Medicine)

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Thank you to the UC Davis Department of Emergency Medicine for supporting this podcast and to Orlando Magaña at OM Productions for audio production services.