Sustainability in the Perioperative Practice Setting

Climate change^{1, 2} and climate justice²—which addresses the social, racial, environmental, multispecies, and economic aspects of the climate crisis³—and their relationship with health are urgent issues that require nurses’ attention.^{1, 2, 4} The American Nurses Association,² the International Council of Nurses,⁵ the World Health Organization,⁶ the American Society of Anesthesiologists,⁷ and AORN¹ believe that the health of the environment is interconnected with the health of patients, and that nurses^{1, 2, 4, 5, 7} and health care leaders⁶ should be informed about the ways that they can make a positive contribution to sustainable health care.

In 1987, the United Nations’ World Commission on Environment and Development declared that “[h]umanity has the ability to make development sustainable – to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”^8(p24) Measures to conserve natural resources, decrease waste, and reduce hazardous material exposure and emissions are important aspects of environmentally responsible practices that may result in a sustainable health care system.¹ Perioperative practices can have a profound effect on the environment;^{1, 9} for example, perioperative areas consume approximately five times more energy per square foot than any other area of a health care facility and produce more than 30% of the waste of an entire facility.¹⁰ Personnel should strive for environmental responsibility and support sustainability^{1, 9} through a variety of initiatives, such as clinical plastics recycling and medical waste reduction.^{10, 11}

An interdisciplinary approach to creating a comprehensive program that includes a variety of environmentally responsible actions in the perioperative setting likely can have the greatest effect.^{1, 10} This article summarizes the actions that perioperative RNs can implement to contribute to a sustainable world through environmental responsibility in the OR.