Sustainability in Healthcare: Perspectives and Reflections Regarding Laboratory Medicine

Abstract

Healthcare structures serve to protect and improve public health; however, they can have negative effects on human well-being and the environment. Thus, sustainability is an important target in a rapidly changing healthcare environment. We analyzed the state of the art in research on healthcare and sustainability by exploring literature on different healthcare systems and their relations with the environment. Our review presents conceptual and practical developments regarding sustainability, as well as an overview of their evolution in the healthcare sector over time. We also discuss how sustainability could be applied to reduce the environmental impact of clinical laboratories by ensuring that resources are used efficiently and responsibly. Finally, we describe how laboratory medicine can contribute to a sustainable healthcare system through integration of innovation and emerging technologies while providing high-quality services to patients and caregivers.

Using Higher-Order Constructs to Estimate Health-Disease Status: The Effect of Health System Performance and Sustainability

“…Maintaining a sustainable health system is the basis for improving people's health [2,28,34]. Hospitals that do not allocate their resources properly are more insecure, which means that they are more likely to have unwanted clinical events [34].…”

“…Today, it is studied with a multidimensional approach. In the area of health, the health system will be sustainable when it takes care of the well-being of patients, health professionals, and the entire community, preserving resources [28]. In other words, we must provide the best possible health service to improve the patient's health status, with the lowest waste of resources possible [13,34].…”

“…Through sustainability reports, corporations explain their planning in its economic, environmental, and social aspects [27]. When we speak of health system sustainability, we refer to the management of resources and expenses that are carried out, and the degree to which the health system's use is capable of meeting current needs without compromising the satisfaction of future needs [13,28]. It will be necessary to maintain the best possible cost-effectiveness ratio to meet this criterion.…”

Sustainable Science

“…Healthcare institutions are also concerned with sustainability, particularly the sustainability of structures that preserve social, economic, and ecological resources and meet the needs and interests of stakeholders, including healthcare professionals, patients, and the community (Molero et al, 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened our awareness of institutional unsustainability, particularly in relationship to interventions that limit the spread of infectious organisms and, more importantly, safe care delivery with bare-bones staffing.…”

Big Data, artificial intelligence and laboratory medicine: time for integration

“…Laboratory and biological data will markedly contribute to the efficiency and quality of the AI tools. Beside the clinical impact, it is also important to mention the power of Big Data and AI to improve laboratory efficiency and sustainability by identifying area of waste, improving processes and allowing a more rational laboratory test ordering [6].…”