Can digital health curb sector’s climate impact?
Source: https://medicalrepublic.com.au/can-digital-health-curb-sectors-climate-impact/82724
Author: Fran Molloy
Health plays a big role in the urgent priority to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero; worldwide, the sector contributes 4.4 per cent of global emissions and is estimated to triple by 2050. Coiera and his colleague Professor Farah Magrabi (who co-edited the recent ‘human health and climate change’ issue of the Journal of American Medical Informatics Association) have outlined ten steps health informaticians can take to address climate change. Streamlined health processes and electronic medication systems reduce hospitalisation and medication errors (though the jury is out on how effective these are) – but digital health also introduces more emissions and waste. “Generic solutions such as shifting to renewable power will improve the footprint of health care – but there are also specific risks we need to manage, such as anaesthetic gas escapes of potent greenhouse gases which cumulatively make a big impact,” Coiera says. “In the digital health world, we focus on building real-world, interoperable systems to improve the way we deliver healthcare, and if we think about climate at all, it might include supporting renewable power or reducing transport,” Coiera says. “In the digital health world, we focus on building real-world, interoperable systems to improve the way we deliver healthcare, and if we think about climate at all, it might include supporting renewable power or reducing transport,” Coiera says.