By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    headphones can create health problems
    The Harmful Health Effects of Using Headphones
    September 24, 2021
    Headache causes
    4 Causes Of Headache You Probably Didn’t Know About
    December 28, 2021
    follow these steps to recover from your injury
    What Steps Should You Take to Recover More Quickly from an Injury?
    April 12, 2022
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    private
    Private Exchanges: Getting Ready for Individual Health Insurance to Be the Standard
    January 9, 2014
    valueable healthcare programs
    5 Most Valuable Healthcare Programs in 2023
    March 8, 2023
    Johnson & Johnson to Release Clinical Trial Data in Agreement with Yale Medical School
    February 4, 2014
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Greening The Hospital: Eco-Friendly Solutions With Cost Advantages
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > eHealth > Greening The Hospital: Eco-Friendly Solutions With Cost Advantages
eHealthTechnology

Greening The Hospital: Eco-Friendly Solutions With Cost Advantages

Larry Alton
Larry Alton
Share
6 Min Read
Greening The Hospital: Eco-Friendly Solutions With Cost Advantages
SHARE

 

Contents
  • Lead With Light
  • Split Up Waste
  • Develop Recovery Protocols
  • Cut Back On Travel
  • Mind Your Order Volume

Hospitals have a fundamental obligation: to create a safe environment for patients, with an emphasis on sterility in all procedure areas. Unfortunately, this aim is often in conflict with modern efforts to develop more sustainable practices because eco-friendly mainstays like reusable products or decreased energy use simply aren’t options. This raises the question of whether it’s even possible for hospitals to go green. Ultimately, practicing sustainable medicine is possible, but it does present significant logistical challenges.

Lead With Light

One of the easiest eco-friendly changes to make in any medical environment is one of light; your practice should eliminate fluorescent lights in favor of energy efficient LEDs. Additionally, be sure to let in as much natural light as possible. Sunlight is a proven mood booster, while fluorescent lights cause many patients to suffer headaches, making their stay less pleasant.

Your hospital can also supplement its energy use by embracing solar power as part of its infrastructure. Though obviously large medical centers require a lot of electricity, as well as generators in the case of an emergency, solar or even wind energy can help meet some of your hospital’s needs.

More Read

FDA Asks Manufacturers of Hip Replacements To Study Failure Rates
Have You Considered The Mobile Communication Concerns in Healthcare?
Mobile Apps for Chronic Cancer Patients
What Has the Medical Industry Learned from COVID-19?
Ebola or Epic: Which Do US Hospitals Fear More?

Split Up Waste

Medical supplies, from scalpels and needles to gloves, gauze, and gowns, are a leading source of medical waste, and to the untrained eye the excess can be ridiculous. For example, when a fully scrubbed surgeon opens some sponges in an empty operating room, those sponges are immediately considered contaminated and must be disposed of even though they’ve never been used. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when considering hospital waste.

In order to minimize the environmental damage caused by disposing of medical supplies, hospitals should be sure to maintain segregated waste streams. Pharmaceutical waste needs to be divided from biological and pathology waste or from sharps in order to ensure that end processors dispose of them correctly. Spaces should be equipped with waste containers to ensure proper disposal and reduce injury; staff are more likely to sustain needle prick injuries and similar harms when there isn’t a disposal container immediately available.

Develop Recovery Protocols

Just like the hospital kitchen likely has recovery and recycling systems for cardboard, bottles, and even uneaten food, the rest of your institution needs recovery systems in order to function sustainably. Unfortunately, USA regulations regularly prevent hospitals from using items from recovery streams. By developing relationships with non-profits, however, your hospital’s waste can save lives around the world.

Across the United States, groups like Partners for World Health and Esperança are giving medical waste a second life. Partner hospitals hand off perfectly good supplies, such as “expired” IV lines or unused supplies from surgical packs and these goods are delivered to high-need areas. Many hospitals even include older durable equipment like beds and sonogram machines in their deliveries when they’re upgrading those items.

Cut Back On Travel

Travel is an expensive part of running a hospital, and it’s surprisingly frequent. Doctors attend conferences around the globe and patients travel long distances to appointments, burning fossil fuels all the way. By embracing telehealth, however, your hospital can significantly reduce patient travel for non-emergent care.

Telemedicine is a quickly growing sector and makes care much more affordable, yet it’s still greatly underutilized; only about 1-2% of eligible patients use telehealth services. When hospitals emphasize telehealth and actively encourage patients to take advantage of this option for consultations and supplemental care, all participants save money, time, and energy. Telehealth can also minimize disease transmission among vulnerable patients.

Mind Your Order Volume

Finally, hospitals can greatly reduce medical waste by maintaining better inventory practices. Many medical supplies are marked with an expiration date, even if they don’t technically expire the way a medication or food item might. Rather, they’re arbitrarily marked with a use-by date and hospitals have to dispose of those products after that date. By reducing order volume and minimizing overstock, hospitals can reduce the amount of supplies that go unused.

Modern inventory management systems can help hospitals reduce over-ordering tendencies by tracking supply use and order patterns and issuing restock alerts. These systems use past supply use patterns to predict inventory depletion in the upcoming days and weeks, a process that reduces both material and financial waste.

In 2012, the National Academy of Medicine estimated that the United States healthcare system wasted $765 billion. That’s more than the defense budget and enough to supply thousands of underserved hospitals around the globe. Make your hospital part of the solution rather than contributing to the problem and cut the fat. The fact is that American hospitals aren’t at risk of running out of scalpels or bandages; we’re immersed in a culture of waste. Healthcare costs enough without supply overruns and our patients – and the earth – depend on medicine making simple, sustainable changes in the next few years.

Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025
physiotherapist at work
How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
Health care
August 20, 2025
Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs
7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
Health News
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

health start-ups
BusinessTechnology

Health Start-Ups! – Four Tips for Health IT Start-Ups

June 13, 2013

EHRs Now Predict a Connection Between Type 2 Diabetes and Dementia

August 25, 2013
Medical InnovationsTechnology

How Medical Prototyping Is Revolutionizing The Way Medicine Is Practiced

August 5, 2020

Healthcare Reputation Management in a Web 3.0 World

March 16, 2015
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?