TY - GEN
T1 - Life cycle assessment of medical procedures
T2 - 2012 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST 2012
AU - Thiel, C. L.
AU - Campion, N.
AU - DeBlois, J.
AU - Woods, N. C.
AU - Landis, A. E.
AU - Bilec, M. M.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Despite being a heavily regulated industry and one in which patient safety and wellbeing trumps many other concerns, healthcare's environmental impacts can be improved. Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to quantify the environmental impacts associated with cesarean section and vaginal births at a US hospital, this study identifies aspects of birthing procedures upon which hospitals should focus to maximize efforts related to sustainability. This case study hospital, which delivers about 10,000 babies a year, emits about 227,000 kg of CO 2 equivalents annually from birth procedures alone. Results show that for both cesarean section and vaginal births, impacts related to the production and disposal of single-use items, as well as the impacts related to the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning contribute the most to the impact categories analyzed.
AB - Despite being a heavily regulated industry and one in which patient safety and wellbeing trumps many other concerns, healthcare's environmental impacts can be improved. Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to quantify the environmental impacts associated with cesarean section and vaginal births at a US hospital, this study identifies aspects of birthing procedures upon which hospitals should focus to maximize efforts related to sustainability. This case study hospital, which delivers about 10,000 babies a year, emits about 227,000 kg of CO 2 equivalents annually from birth procedures alone. Results show that for both cesarean section and vaginal births, impacts related to the production and disposal of single-use items, as well as the impacts related to the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning contribute the most to the impact categories analyzed.
KW - healthcare
KW - life cycle assessment
KW - medical procedure
KW - operation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84866258760&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84866258760&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/ISSST.2012.6228000
DO - 10.1109/ISSST.2012.6228000
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84866258760
SN - 9781467320047
T3 - IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology
BT - 2012 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology, ISSST 2012
Y2 - 16 May 2012 through 18 May 2012
ER -