VICDOC Summer 2023 - Magazine - Page 24
THE PLANET IS IN A TERRIBLE STATE —
IT’S IN INTENSIVE CARE AND IT HAS
MULTI-ORGAN FAILURE.
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Our actions matter. We have an ethical
duty of care to ensure that we provide
care to patients, but that we don't
worsen everyone else's health through
environmental pollution at the same time.
Once you know about climate change and
about the health impacts of climate change
such as air pollution, the effects even
before birth on fetuses all the way through
to elderly people having heat stress, it's
difficult to carry on knowing that without
doing something. I want to look back,
hopefully from a stabilised and healthy
climate and say I knew what was going
to happen and I did what I could to try
and prevent it as much as possible.
SUSTAINABILITY REQUIRES
TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGE.
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There has already been some critical
leadership from people who have stepped
up at important points in time, but we need
to keep following that up and maintain
momentum over time. Transformative
change doesn't happen overnight. It
happens incrementally and we must
maintain that over time. That’s why it’s
so important that we keep having these
conversations, and that anyone, at any stage
of their career, feels they can step in and
step up and work towards change.
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AUSTIN HEALTH IS POSITIONING ITSELF AS
A LEADER IN SUSTAINABLE HEALTHCARE,
WHICH IS VERY EXCITING.
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One of the priority goals in our strategic
plan for 2023 to 2027 is to be a leader
of sustainable healthcare. Part of that is
a goal to be net zero emissions by 2040.
This has come about because our staff
feel strongly about sustainable healthcare.
This led to the development of a new,
multidisciplinary committee; we've been
meeting regularly to strategise how are
we going to achieve this ambitious target
and what our roadmap's going to look
like. It involves clinical care, waste, our
infrastructure, our energy sources, the
ways that we transport patients and staff.
We’re taking a comprehensive look at our
services and how we can maintain the
excellent care that we’re known for yet
demonstrate that we can do it in
an environmentally sustainable way.
BALANCING INDIVIDUAL PATIENT CARE
AGAINST A PUBLIC HEALTH PERSPECTIVE
IS A CONTINUED TENSION AROUND
SUSTAINABILITY IN HEALTHCARE.
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We get very institutionalised. Once you
work in one hospital, you forget that there
are many other ways of doing things.
And there are plenty of hospitals around
Victoria and around the country and
that use reusable theatre equipment, for
example. And those hospitals don't have
higher rates of complications. It mostly
comes down to the decision-making
process at a procurement level – there
isn't much evidence to guide these
decisions. My PhD looks at how we can
convert the vast amounts of disposable
equipment that we use in operating
theatres with a reusable alternative
through implementation science and
behavioural change interventions to
deliver that in a practical way.
