1st Edition
Routledge Handbook of Climate Change and Health System Sustainability
The Routledge Handbook on Climate Change and Health System Sustainability takes the reader on a journey to understand the interconnectedness of human health, climate change, and healthcare systems.
The book begins by exploring how climate change is affecting human health through the increasing frequency of natural disasters, such as bush fires, droughts and heatwaves, and the emergence of new infectious diseases, such as the SARS-CoV2 virus, all of which drive up demand for health services that are already heavily burdened by increasing rates of chronic diseases and ageing populations. Chapters then turn to the contribution of the healthcare system itself to climate change— explaining how current clinical practices, including wasteful care of low value, create an unsustainable carbon footprint and threaten the very viability of healthcare systems. Throughout the volume, descriptions of practical solutions and implemented case studies are used to illustrate the feasibility of taking action in the real world of the healthcare delivery ecosystem.
Bringing together a mix of forward-thinking environmental and health researchers, policymakers, leaders, managers, clinicians, patients, and health industry leaders to clarify the current state and future of sustainable healthcare systems, this book will be of interest to researchers and policymakers of climate and health systems.
Preface by Ezequiel Garcia Elorrio and Carsten Engel
PART I: To begin
Chapter 1 How we got to here
Jeffrey Braithwaite, Yvonne Zurynski & Carolynn K-lynn Smith
Chapter 2 Can we have a sustainable health system?
Jeffrey Braithwaite & ChatGPT
Chapter 3 Creating climate-resilient, sustainable health systems: Perspectives from health ministers
Jeffrey Braithwaite, Yvonne Zurynski & Carolynn K-lynn Smith
PART II: The effects of climate change on human health and healthcare system sustainability
Section 1: Fundamental issues
Chapter 4 Climate change: How worried should we be?
Lesley Hughes
Chapter 5 Who are we? Social identity and sustainable healthcare in the Anthropocene
Tony Wainwright & Annie Mitchell
Chapter 6 Mental health in a time of crisis: The detrimental effects of climate change
Elle Leask, Louise A. Ellis, Genevieve Dammery & Jeffrey Braithwaite
Chapter 7 Antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance in people and animals and its potential impacts on planetary health
Carolynn K-lynn Smith, Anne Quain & Stephen W. Page
Section 2: Specific exemplars
Chapter 8 Australian bushfires, heatwaves, and disaster medicine
Gerard FitzGerald
Chapter 9 Australian bushfires 2019–20: Exploring the short-term health impacts
Jenna Haddin, David Wong & Claire Sparke
Chapter 10 Emergency medicine in a climate crisis: Are we prepared?
Simon Judkins, Lai H. Foong, Kimberly Humphrey & Laksmi S. Govindasamy
Chapter 11 Health system responses to climate change in Australia
Angie Bone, Annette Bos, Adi Vyas, Arthur Wyns, Fiona Armstrong, Peter Bragge & Anthony Capon
Section 3: Social justice and climate change
Chapter 12 Population health perspective on extreme weather events and emergency medical services
Olga Anikeeva & Peng Bi
Chapter 13 Indigenous planetary health and the bridging of Indigenous and conventional medicine systems
Nicole Redvers
Chapter 14 Climate resilient development: What does this mean for health in the Indo-Pacific region?
Annabelle Workman & Kathryn J. Bowen
Chapter 15 Climate change and access to healthcare: A case study of Africa
Ama Umesi, Akua Frimpomaa Darkwah, Buchi Umesi & Omas Ubiame
Chapter 16 Climate change in Africa case Studies: Role of healthcare and sustainable interventions
Ama Umesi, Omas Ubiame, Yauba Saidu, Buchi Umesi, Esu Ezeani, Olatunji Paul Jaiyeola & Akua Frimpomaa Darkwah
PART III: The impact of healthcare delivery on environmental sustainability: Challenges and solutions
Section 1: Towards sustainability
Chapter 17 Climate change mitigation and healthcare sector sustainability
Paul J. Beggs, Alice McGushin, Marina Romanello, Arunima Malik & Jodi D. Sherman
Chapter 18 Sustainable quality improvement and other practical solutions to implement sustainable healthcare
Simran Sehdev, Stefi Barna & Aditya Vyas
Chapter 19 Performance monitoring for a sustainable health system: New wine, new bottles?
Fiona A. Miller & Gillian Parker
Section 2: System redesign
Chapter 20 ‘We argue that … one simply cannot claim to be a “health” care professional without advocating forcefully for the planet’: Planetary health needs to be included in health professions' education
Michelle McLean
Chapter 21 Digital health solutions to climate change challenges
Hania Rahimi-Ardabili, Farah Magrabi & Enrico Coiera
Chapter 22 Learning Healthcare Systems: How to improve health system sustainability in the era of climate change
Carolynn K-lynn Smith & Genevieve Dammery
Chapter 23 Is the Learning Health System 2.0 (LHS 2.0) a solution to healthcare's climate challenges?
Jeffrey Braithwaite, Louise A. Ellis, Georgia Fisher, Carolynn K-lynn Smith & Yvonne Zurynski
Section 3: Structural perspectives on healthcare and environmental sustainability
Chapter 24 One health: Perspectives on the interconnectedness of human, animal, and environmental health
Hisham El-Ansary
Chapter 25 Integrated care, system leadership and sustainability
Chris Naylor & Esme Ward
Chapter 26 It’s not what you do, it’s the way that you do it: Reducing the carbon footprint of healthcare through models of integrated care
Yvonne Zurynski, Nicholas Goodwin & Shalini Wijekulasuriya
Chapter 27 Climate action and healthcare – an Irish perspective
Philip Crowley, Roisin Breen & Colin O'Hehir
Section 4: Lowering the carbon footprint of healthcare
Chapter 28 Reconfiguring health organisations for environmental sustainability; Implications for professions, work and management in healthcare
Simon Bishop
Chapter 29 Think pathways, not buildings: Assessing the climate impact of patient care pathways
Oliver Gröne
Chapter 30 Greenifying the healthcare routine: Learnings from bottom-up green medical activism in the Netherlands
Hans C. Ossebaard & Evelyn Brakema
Chapter 31 Towards zero emissions in healthcare: The Italian experience
Elisabetta Mezzalira, Luca P. Orsini, Chiara Leardini & Gianluca Veronesi
Section 5: Economic perspectives on improving healthcare
Chapter 32 Ecological economics for health and health systems
Martin C. Hensher
Chapter 33 What is overtreatment and why is it a problem?
Rachelle Buchbinder, Ian Harris & Denise O'Connor
Chapter 34 Improving planetary and population health through frugal and reverse innovation
Cyan Brown, Matthew Harris & Yasser Bhatti
PART IV: What does it all mean?
Chapter 35 Bringing it together
Jeffrey Braithwaite, Yvonne Zurynski, Carolynn K-lynn Smith
Chapter 36 Creating sustainable healthcare systems to cope with a changing climate: The time is now
Jeffrey Braithwaite
Index
Biography
Jeffrey Braithwaite Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, Australia
Yvonne Zurynski Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, Australia
Carolynn K-lynn Smith Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University, Australia
