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GREEN HOSPITALS
Executive summary
Just like any other institutions of the world, hospitals are required to adopt sustainable development procedures as they go about their duties. In every diagnostic and therapeutic activity in a hospital, it is highly recommended to put into consideration the effect of the environment and hence the effects to humans and the surrounding flora and fauna. The following work is focusing on green hospital concept. What does it entail, how can be achieved, and how can it be maintained. It also stipulates the consequences to hospitals that do not adhere to the green hospital policies and the long run effects of doing so. The conclusions will lay down the result of the analysis, and the recommendations are the suggestions meant for the CEO who is the key figure of influencing such changes in a hospital set up
Introduction
Hospital is a place of almighty. They are meant to be a place to serve the patients. However, besides serving and saving lives, hospitals have been proven to go against the ethical practice of conserving the environment. At Health IT (2012) states, they should be in the forefront in sustainable development but this is not the case. Hospitals just like factories and other industrial sectors have contributed to the destruction of the ozone layer through emissions of carbon dioxide in the air, they take part in polluting the environment by misusing water and electricity, they feed unhealthy food to the patient and to their staff and noise pollution by the laundry machines to the nearest neighbors.
The above has massively contributed to environmental deterioration if not to mention the outbreak of diseases and sometimes loss of lives. This is why the concept of hospitals going green or green hospitals has emerged to give potential remedies to these problems.
Problem
Waste Toxins
There is a single most way in which hospital contributes to environmental deterioration or pollution. That method is unideal disposal of toxic waste.
When a hospital does not dispose of its expired medicinal products, together with their packaging materials properly, this will automatically lead to environmental pollution near its areas or whichever place they will dispose of them. Improper disposal of explosive materials found in hospitals such as naphthalene and formaldehyde may lead fatal accidents.
Hospital waste is a health hazard to health caregivers, the public and the flora and fauna living near those hospitals. Such areas of danger include, but not limited to; infections acquired in the hospital, diseases culminating from transfusions, such as hepatitis B and HIV. Increase in water and land pollution raises the probability of disease outbreak. Air pollution near and around the hospital are due to emission of dangerous gases from incinerators like the Furan, Hydrochloric acid and the dioxin.
This problem has now given rise a serious threat to the human and animals' lives because of the compromised environmental conditions. Ultimately, what will happen if governmental bodies do not intervene is, instead of a hospital being a place where lives are saved; it will be where more lives are lost.
Energy Usage
Human beings are destroying the atmosphere by the usage of fossil fuels like petrol and coal. These fuel by-products are chemicals that erode the ozone, which is responsible for shielding us from the scorching heat of the sun. Energy inefficient appliances are also associated with misuse of electricity in the hospital. Such appliances would be electric water heaters and inefficient lighting bulbs. Some departments and facilities in the hospital leave machines and bulbs running throughout the night when no one is using them.
Alternatives
Waste training
The CEO is highly advised to make sure that his staffs are trained in efficient and effective waste disposal and waste management. The focus is to equip the personnel with knowledge of strategic waste management. It is in this training where staff will acquire skills on how waste should be treated before it is disposed. A study by Guenther, Vittori and Atwood (2006) showed that, treatment of waste before disposal ensures that the likelihood of environmental pollution is eliminated or reduced significantly. When you treat waste from a hospital, there is a high probability that, that waste will not produce harmful gases to the atmosphere and there will not be a release of hazardous chemical to the soil and water.
Every hospital management team headed by the CEO should facilitate the adoption of recycling of waste, hence, conservation of resources.
In addition to the above, its CEO’s responsibility to make sure that his hospital has a water reservoir where all water is recycled by being treated and purified. The same water can be reused for cleaning purposes.
Energy efficiency
Green hospital policies, call for all hospitals conserve their energy. They should use less energy as much as they can. It is recommended to use energy savers to build for lighting.
Green hospital policies should take into account need for energy conservation. The facilities must use energy efficient bulbs for lighting.
Solar panels should be installed for the provision of power backup and cost saving. Solar energy is preferred in green hospital policies because it is a recyclable source of energy. It is clean, readily available, unlike fossil energy.
Another area of improvement is the kind of appliances the hospital uses. Appliances inwards, offices, laundry, Kitchen and in administrative units must meet the green hospital mandate. The mandate stipulates that appliances must facilitate energy conservation as much as possible.
Rebuilding Green
Costs
Constructing hospitals is not economically cheap. The cost of rebuilding a hospital includes reconstruction cost, maintenance cost, ulterior design and interior redesigning as well as consultancy fee. As William (2005) elaborates, the ratio of rebuilding a hospital and the benefits reaped from doing so is two is to ten (2:10) respectively. He goes further and gives details as per the unit cost of rebuilding a hospital to be five dollars per square foot.
As major players in the construction industry, green hospital will most likely purchase, construction services and materials (Wilhelm, 2005). They will have a great impact on the price of the commodities in the market. The cost of these items will no doubt impact on the cost of construction of such a hospital.
Further, a cost-benefit analysis of such projects may depict the project as unviable from the business point of view. However, in the long run there is a minimal upfront investment of around two percent of construction cost which is later recovered when a saving of over ten times the initial expenditure is made (Chandra, 2009). The project can be made even cheaper when an integrated design is made in collaboration among architects, engineers, medical staff, and other stakeholders. This collaboration can result in a better functioning green hospital at a very low cost.
Green hospital projects advertise themselves as a responsible project with a sense of social responsibility. They are not only geared towards creating a center where people’s health would be taken care of but also creating a safe and healthy environment to deter people from infected and affected by various disease-causing microorganisms. Such projects attract community funding and government incentives. Thus, the cost incurred in developing this project will not be as huge as it would have been if it was to be borne by the owners of the project.
Savings
Rebuilding a hospital and turning it green in design help in money saving to the clients and to the facility in general. The rationale behind this is that, the patients will part with less money if there is less likelihood of reinfection or infection of new ailments. There will be faster recovery, hence shorter period as inpatients. In the long run, the hospital shall have reduced its operating cost. The hospital will start experiencing positive changes such as reduced staff turnovers, due to eliminated workload. They shall be happy staff and healed patients ((Institute of Medicine, 2007).
According to Realworldhealthcare (2012), the Healthier hospital initiative report depicts that, going green efforts have led to savings of about US dollars 32 Million to 370 hospitals. This was achieved through recycling of 50 million pound waste material. Wilhelm (2005) advocates that, hospitals can save in terms of cost if they opt for green cleaning material. According to Wilhelm (2005), the hospital had saved up to 40% of their clean products cost when they shifted to green cleaning detergents. It is estimated that Green hospital buildings have not only reduced cost, but also increased in employee’s productivity by 1%.
In addition to this, the traditional construction model for green hospital is based on financial savings it makes from energy efficiency. The hospitals save much energy, including on the basis of low cost of operation. The energy cost of such a hospital will amount to less than one percent of its operating cost. The hospital can save over 20 percent of the operating cot that would otherwise have been used in the non-green hospitals (Wilhelm 2005).
Other avenues that promote savings in these hospitals include
- Green Hospital enhances faster and better recovery
- The hospitals reduce the risk of patient infections
- Improved public image encourages incentives as well as philanthropic financial support
- They encourage staff retention, cutting down on recruiting costs
Conclusion
Basically, when analyzing pros and cons of green hospitals, it is true to say that benefits outweigh the cost. Patients, communities, staff and the environment are adversely affected harmful practices practiced by hospitals that have not yet gone green. It is good for everyone when institutions embark on activities that are beneficial to themselves and the communities at large. Reduction in hospital cost will mean less insurance cost and consequently fewer lawsuits against insurance and the hospital by discontented patients and their relatives.
Recommendations
Leadership
The CEO and his top management should lead by example. The way to go about it is the adoption of the Green energy model. As wellness, environment (2010) explains, the management has a responsibility y to facilitate green energy initiatives. With every strategic plan for the hospital, there should be the incorporation of going green.
The Chief executive officer should focus his leadership in making sure that strategies have been laid down on how the hospital will be turned green if it is not yet green. If it has already been rebuilt green, he should come up with ways to keep it green. This is because it is the sole duty to make sure that the interest of the patients is paramount. He is also to make sure that staff productivity is kept at bay, and the hospital contributes to the welfare of the community and not the opposite.
It is advised that a hospital should purchase green hospital equipment’s if green hospital policies are to be adhered to. In addition, rebuilding of hospital design to incorporate green elements is necessary because it is associated with quick recovery of the sick ones. All the generators of biomedical ought to adopt a conventional safety and precautionary measures when doing their diagnostic and therapeutic activities. The same measures should be observed when handling biomedical waste (Chandra, 2009).
Collectors, drivers, and other personnel who handle medical items should be made aware of risks prevalent in their jobs. Clearly written instructions should be given out on how to dispose of and handle waste. This will prevent spillages and hospital accidents. Chandra (2009) says that, it is the duty of every hospital manager to provide protective gear to his or her employees and the manual on how to use them. The CEO should ensure that everyone in his staff body is vaccinated against the hepatitis B and the tetanus.
Reference
Chandra, H. (2009)”Hospital Waste management”Delivery on occasion. Vol 5 No.3 July.
Guenther, R., Vittori, A. & Atwood, C. (2006). Values-Driven Design and Construction: Enriching Community Benefits through Green Hospitals. (Online): https://www.healthdesign.org/chd/research/values-driven-design-and-construction-enriching-community-benefits-through-green-hospit[Accessed on 2014-12-08]
Health IT. (2012). Benefits for Critical Access Hospitals and Other Small Rural Hospitals.
(Online): http://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/benefits-critical-access- hospitals-and-other-small-rural-hospitals. [Accessed on 2014-12-08]
Economics: Workshop Summary. (Online): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK54151/ [Accessed on 2014-12-08]
Realworldhealthcare. (2013). Groundbreaking Report Spotlights Benefits of Going Green for Hospitals. (Online): http://www.realworldhealthcare.org/2013/09/groundbreaking-report-spotlights-benefits-of-going-green-for-hospitals/#sthash.Fuhf8AwZ.dpuf[Accessed on 2014-12-08]
Wellness Environment. (2010). Benefits of green construction. (Online): http://www.wellnessenvironments.net/green-construction.php [Accessed on 2014-12-08]
Wilhelm, M. (2005). Green Building Specifics: Costs, Benefits and Case Studies. (Online):
http://wsppn.org/pdf/hospital/10%20Green%20Building%201%20(AZ).pdf
[Accessed on 2014-12-08]
