The Ecological Footprint of Gynecology: Lessons from Dutch Hospitals and Implications for Future Healthcare Management.

Abstract

In 2023, global temperatures reached record-breaking highs, highlighting the urgent need for climate action. Healthcare is responsible for 4-8% of global carbon emissions, contributing to global warming and impacting the health of billions of people. Within healthcare, gynecology has a significant ecological footprint due to its high volume and broad range of care services. However, little is known on how gynecology departments' management structures, information systems and processes can be optimized to reduce the ecological footprint of this specialty. Therefore, a sustainability maturity model based on Donabedian's structure-process-outcome model for quality improvement was used to assess sustainability performance in two gynecology practices with different organizational structures (centralized vs. decentralized). Maturity model scores and interview findings were analyzed to extract lessons and recommendations for optimizing sustainability within gynecology. As the first assessment of its kind, this study provides a foundation for healthcare management seeking to improve environmental performance in gynecological care.