How smaller hospitals can do better for the environment
Even organizations with limited staff and resources can take steps to generate less waste and reduce their impact on the environment.
More hospitals are taking steps to do less damage to the environment, but smaller hospitals face some obstacles in becoming more sustainable.
Smaller hospitals and health systems don’t have the resources or staffing that some large hospitals can utilize for their environmental programs. They may not be able to devote people to lead sustainability initiatives.
Still, even smaller hospitals can take meaningful steps with limited staff, says Alex Chapman, director of regulatory affairs at Stericycle.
“Having resources available to support these kinds of niches can be tough,” Chapman tells Chief Healthcare Executive®. “I would start with first engaging your stakeholders again, making sure you have representatives from each group, and look for the low hanging fruit.”
Chapman says smaller hospitals should look to “make the biggest impact in the easiest way.”
(See part of our conversation with Alex Chapman. The story continues below.)
Smaller organizations should look at understanding how materials are used, and even little steps by not setting up a medical waste container next to a sink that’s only used for handwashing and will only get paper towels.
Hospital leaders can engage staff and managers through the organization to think through what materials are needed.
“Purchasing might not think about the capability of having reusable containers for sharps or medical waste, and that could be a savings opportunity for them instead of buying disposable,” Chapman says.
Smaller hospitals can take a closer look at the type of supplies and goods that the organization is buying. Even though teams may purchase thousands of different products, Chapman says hospitals could focus on their top five case areas.
“Look at your preference cards for your physicians,” she says. “What are things that are thrown out? You can audit your waste and look at those top five cases. Look at those materials that are used, what happens to the end of their life? So start by focusing on key areas, engaging all of the appropriate stakeholders and making sure there's clarity in your policies.”
With hospitals of all sizes facing mounting financial pressures, they are increasingly looking at ways to cut waste and reduce the amount of items that are being used once and discarded.
“When we think about waste and healthcare organizations, they're looking to reduce their spend,” Chapman says.
Increasingly, hospitals are looking beyond the money being spent to haul waste away. They’re looking at reducing their liability and their overall financial costs.
“So if we look upstream, the value chain to what am I buying, and having those leaders engage with the staff that are actually using the products, understanding how they're used, understanding that certain components might change the disposal outcomes, that's where I would say you're seeing more attention given,” Chapman says.
Some hospitals make the common mistake of assuming that reducing waste is the responsibility of the environmental services and facilities departments, she says. Each department can play a part in purchasing items that can be reused.
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All hospital departments should be thinking about what happens to the waste they generate, Chapman says.
She mentions a recent conversation she had with a hospital executive that was stymied because a landfill rejected the organization's waste because some products were improperly thrown away. And that’s something hospitals of all sizes can consider.
“It goes back to your frontline staff who are throwing things the way, understand what happens when they throw it away,” Chapman says. “It's really important. Everyone's there because they want to make a difference and help others. Think about where the things you throw away go and what happens to them.”
For more insights on how hospitals can generate less waste, check out more from our conversation with Alex Chapman in the latest episode of Healthy Bottom Line, a podcast from Chief Healthcare Executive®.
