Proposal of practices for development and operationalization of green healthcare principles in hospital organizations

Abstract

Sustainable development has been a factor to be considered in all organizations. The impacts have now signalled rising on globalization in environmental and human health. It is possible to promote sustainable development, for example by using natural resources wisely. In the hospital area, there is a need to implement sustainable development actions to contribute to the improvement of public and environmental health. Greener hospitals have positive results: the use of reusable materials and durable medical equipment, conducting conservation and water treatment, energy efficiency, selection of healthy food, waste management, and other actions. An increased number of hospitals is more interested in environmental sustainability and planning processes and implementation of the green concept, which is Green Healthcare (GH). The purpose of this research is to suggest development practices and operation of the GH principles in hospital organizations, to be eco-efficient. The practices include actions and managerial tools for identifying, analyzing and proposing solutions for each of the Green Healthcare principles. The practices will be proposed based on the scientific literature and the experience of the researcher and his advisor, and appropriate from practices and difficulties that will be identified in six case studies that will be conducted in hospitals that participate in The Global Green and Healthy Hospitals Agenda. The main results will present practices for the development and operationalization of Green Healthcare. The results will be submitted to scientific publications of journals and conferences, conducting event for the scientific community and hospital organizations on the results of research, and the provision of instructional material (digital or printed) on practices, contributing to the development sustainable in the hospital sector. (AU)