A Kimberley-based family physician led a team of healthcare professionals to create a guide aimed at outlining ways clinicians can be more environmentally conscious.
According to the East Kootenay Division of Family Practice, healthcare is one of the most polluting sectors, contributing five per cent of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions.
“It’s an online guide for healthcare providers meant to make the job of reducing our environmental impact in healthcare easier,” said Dr. Ilona Hale, who lives in Kimberley. “The Planetary Health for Primary Care guide offers a new way to think about the problem and practical tips on incorporating solutions into everyday clinical practice.”
Hale said the environmental impacts of the healthcare field often go unrecognized.
“Even those of us who work in the system don’t think about it all the time. When we do, we usually think about the physical waste in the garbage with the masks and gloves and whatnot,” said Hale. “Most of the waste in our system comes from the waste that we don’t see. So, that’s unnecessary tests and treatments.”
The guide offers advice on how physicians can be more conscious of this.
“It’s not only looking at recycling and saving energy, but also looking at what we can do to be more efficient about using the resources in the healthcare system,” explained Hale.
“It’s better for patients in general because you don’t expose them to unnecessary side effects and forms of tests and treatments they may not need. It also reduces the environmental impacts of all those medications and tests.”
The Planetary Health for Primary Care guide is available to the public on Cascades Canada or by healthcare professionals on Pathways, which is a password-protected physician’s resource website.
“There were previous guides to environmental action in healthcare, but they were more focused on recycling, reducing energy, and saving paper, which is not where the true problem is,” said Dr. Hale. “This resource outlines different strategies that address the bigger impacts—the upstream waste generated in the supply chain to produce materials required for medications, lab tests, surgeries, and hospitalizations—and offers tangible actions to decrease it, such as reducing unnecessary care, empowering patients, and shifting to prevention.”
Hale said resources directed towards patients may come in the future, but there are some things you can take into consideration when you talk to a doctor.
“Have good, open conversations with your provider and make sure you know all the information that is needed to decide between different tests and treatments,” said Hale.
