Greening healthcare: systematic implementation of environmental programmes in a university teaching hospital

Environmental responsibility in hospital care: Findings from a qualitative study

“…[2,9,14] Indeed, environmental responsibility refers to people's behavior, [3,4] but it also includes the actions taken by organizations to protect the world around them. [4,[15][16][17] Environmental responsibility is also an important part of occupational wellbeing, as chemical control protects workers' health. [11,18,19] Health care has been identified as a "highhazard" work sector because of the pharmaceuticals involved, such as anticancer drugs, sterilizing substances, and other substances used in various forms by its employees.…”

“…[20][21][22][23] Long-term strategic policies are required to promote environmental responsibility at an organizational level. [16,17] An environmental program is a strategic organizational policy paper, led by the hospital's senior management team, that defines the framework for systematically providing services without harming the environment. [17] However, it has been reported that the use of these programs is not approached systematically in the hospital sector.…”

“…[16,17] An environmental program is a strategic organizational policy paper, led by the hospital's senior management team, that defines the framework for systematically providing services without harming the environment. [17] However, it has been reported that the use of these programs is not approached systematically in the hospital sector. [24] Strategic work in developing environmental responsibility highlights the role that leaders need to play [25] and the importance of collaboration between different stakeholders.…”

“…[24] Strategic work in developing environmental responsibility highlights the role that leaders need to play [25] and the importance of collaboration between different stakeholders. [9,17] Some hospitals, for instance in Germany, [13] have voluntarily hired environmental managers [26] to oversee the strategic development of such policies and ensure that they are sustainable from an operational point of view. [25,27] As they work in multi-professional teams with administrators and staff, they can provide a wider view of both technical solutions and sensible and realistic operations.…”

“…[20,23,30] In contrast, very few studies have looked at comprehensive environmental responsibility in hospital organizations [9] and have merely referred to structural skeletons that promote ecologically sustainable patient care. [9,16,17] Therefore this topic had been chosen as the main focus in this study, which aims to identify the key elements of environmental responsibility in hospital care and the stakeholders involved. We conducted this research using information from environmental managers and programs in Finnish university hospitals.…”