Reducing healthcare waste by eliminating exam table paper in a primary care practice: a sustainable quality improvement initiative.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Climate change is now the greatest threat to human survival. The healthcare system contributes significantly to global pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Individual practitioners play an important role in helping to reduce these impacts in day-to-day practice. Deimplementation of unnecessary processes and products, such as exam table paper, in medical offices is one simple approach to incorporating principles of planetary health into practice. All quality improvement (QI) projects must start to consider environmental impacts to fully evaluate change ideas.

Methods

We designed a single Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle using the Institute for Health Improvement Model for Improvement. We removed the exam table paper from our primary care office and measured changes in staff

SUBMITTER: Hale I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11529457 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature