Sustainability in interventional radiology: are we doing enough to save the environment?

Pey Ling Shum; Hong Kuan Kok; Julian Maingard; Kevin Zhou; Vivienne Van Damme; Christen D Barras; Lee-Anne Slater; Winston Chong; Ronil V Chandra; Ashu Jhamb; Mark Brooks; Hamed Asadi

doi:10.1186/s42155-022-00336-9

Sustainability in interventional radiology: are we doing enough to save the environment?

CVIR Endovasc. 2022 Nov 28;5(1):60. doi: 10.1186/s42155-022-00336-9.

Authors

Pey Ling Shum¹, Hong Kuan Kok², Julian Maingard^{3

4

5

6

7}, Kevin Zhou⁸, Vivienne Van Damme⁵, Christen D Barras^{9

10}, Lee-Anne Slater⁸, Winston Chong⁸, Ronil V Chandra⁸, Ashu Jhamb⁶, Mark Brooks^{5

11}, Hamed Asadi^{3

5

8

11}

Affiliations

¹ Monash Health, Clayton, VIC, Australia. peylingshum@gmail.com.
² Interventional Radiology Service, Department of Radiology, Northern Health, Epping, VIC, Australia.
³ School of Medicine, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia.
⁴ Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia.
⁵ Interventional Neuroradiology Service, Department of Radiology, Austin Health, Heidelberg, VIC, Australia.
⁶ Interventional Radiology Service, Department of Radiology, St. Vincent's Hospital, Fitzroy, VIC, Australia.
⁷ Epworth Hospital, Richmond, Melbourne, Australia.
⁸ Interventional Neuroradiology Unit, Monash Imaging, Monash Health, Clayton, VIC, Australia.
⁹ South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
¹⁰ Department of Radiology, Royal Adelaide Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
¹¹ Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health - Austin Campus, Stroke Division, Heidelberg, VIC, Australia.

Abstract

Background: Healthcare waste contributes substantially to the world's carbon footprint. Our aims are to review the current knowledge of Interventional Radiology (IR) waste generation and ways of reducing waste in practice, to quantify the environmental and financial impact of waste generated and address green initiatives to improve IR waste management.

Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted in July 2022 using the Medline and Embase literature databases. The scope of the search included the field of IR as well as operating theatre literature, where relevant to IR practice.

Results: One-hundred articles were reviewed and 68 studies met the inclusion criteria. Greening initiatives include reducing, reusing and recycling waste, as well as strict waste segregation. Interventional radiologists can engage with suppliers to reformulate procedure packs to minimize unnecessary items and packaging. Opened but unused equipment can be prevented if there is better communication within the team and increased staff awareness of wasted equipment cost. Incentives to use soon-to-expire equipment can be offered. Power consumption can be reduced by powering down operating room lights and workstations when not in use, changing to Light Emitting Diode (LED) and motion sensor lightings. Surgical hand wash can be replaced with alcohol-based hand rubs to reduce water usage. Common barriers to improving waste management include the lack of leadership, misconceptions regarding infectious risk, lack of data, concerns about increased workload, negative staff attitudes and resistance to change. Education remains a top priority to engage all staff in sustainable healthcare practices.

Conclusion: Interventional radiologists have a crucial role to play in improving healthcare sustainability. By implementing small, iterative changes to our practice, financial savings, greater efficiency and improved environmental sustainability can be achieved.

Keywords: Carbon footprint; Climate change; Environmental sustainability; Global warming; Greening; Interventional Radiology; Recycling; Waste.