Sustainability initiative proposal; Sustainability means meeting today’s needs without jeopardizing the future generation’s ability to meet their needs. Energy efficiency refers to and includes measures that are intended to cut/reduce the amount of energy consumed in hospitals without negatively affecting operations while the same time improves service delivery. Health care facilities are big consumers of energy. This is because of the machines involved, heating, security, lighting, among other functions that run on energy in care facilities.

Hospital buildings are among the top users of energy in the United States as they are designed to increase the comfort for patients, improve health, and guarantee safety for the patients and staff. In other words, the energy system in the hospitals must be up running 24/7 (Fairbanks, 2018). Therefore, health care facilities need to find ways of regulating the use of energy without compromising the fundamental functions it owes to its customers and staff, safety, comfort, and improvement of health. Read more

The proposed ways to enhance energy efficiencies, include opening windows and other openings, switching off heaters, and machines when not needed for air conditioning. Conducting campaigns and reminders would go a long way in ensuring that energy is conserved (activesustainability.com, 2020). Additionally, energy efficiencies can be achieved through thermal insulation of roofs, outside walls, and floors (Stone & Coppock, 2018). This is because thermal insulation reduces temperature fluctuations by limiting heat loss or gain within buildings and that it can be carried out on floors, walls, and roofs. However, introducing thermal insulation as a method of enhancing energy efficiencies requires reconstruction as well as considerable time to set up (Thayer, 2017). Sustainability initiative proposal;

Analysis of the costs and benefits associated with energy inefficiencies

It is estimated that public health care in Spain spends an average of 63.8 billion euros on energy (García-Sanz-Calcedo, 2014). This represents about 71.8% of the total amount spent on energy in the country (García-Sanz-Calcedo, 2014). Several techniques can be used to reduce energy consumption in health care facilities, which in turn, would cut on cost. For example, the installation of power capacitors to motors or transformers would save a great deal of power. This would not be very expensive for a health care facility and would see the cost of energy fall significantly. Likewise, installing timers with programmed disconnections in storage tanks or water heaters would, as a result, save on the energy used on water heaters when it’s not in operation (García-Sanz-Calcedo, 2014). This again would not be expensive and is associated with unmatched cost benefits.

The hospitals may also focus on replacing fluorescent and incandescent lamps that consume increased amounts of energy. Although this would be a bit expensive at first, it would have positive effects in the long-run. Also, the health care facilities determined to enhance energy efficiencies should install occupancy sensors lighting system so that lighting is only used when necessary. Although this would be a little bit expensive, it is worth it as it would ensure the efficient use of energy and the cut of costs thereof. Research studies claim that about 50% of hospitals’ energy goes to cooling, heating, and ventilation system (García-Sanz-Calcedo, 2014). The sustainability initiative proposes the installation of modern cooling and ventilation system that consumes less energy.

Evaluation of how the initiative will improve patient care and outcomes

Sustainability in health care facilities can be achieved by ensuring that, health care workers are willing to deliver high-quality care services and at the same time, improve the public health standards. They should do this without exhausting resources or causing any harm to patients. Therefore, enhancing energy efficiencies is highly encouraged in health care as it allows care providers to avail optimal services to their current and even future clients. One of the ways through which sustainability helps to improve patient care outcomes is by ensuring that care providers engage in legal, medical practices. According to Moffett & Moore (2011), health service providers should endeavor to understand how the legal system defines the standards of care. This would, in turn, help them to avoid engaging in medical malpractices that could jeopardize patients’ safety or even undermine the quality of service that they avail to their clients (Moffett & Moore, 2011).

Secondly, the sustainability initiative would improve patient care and outcome by leveraging clinical trial findings to inform medical practice. Torrey (2020) argues that this would help health care providers make the most appropriate medical decision and consequently improve patient’s health outcomes. Thirdly, the sustainability initiative would help care providers strive to abide by the formal and informal guidelines that are generally accepted in the medical community. In other words, employ the evidence-based practices in the treatment of various diseases or condition as such result in desirable health outcomes. Therefore, sustainability in the health care setting has a positive relationship with patient care outcomes. Sustainability initiative proposal;

Evaluation of how the initiative will reduce waste

Sustainability Initiative involves the identification and implementation of environmental sustainability practices that can improve the quality of services and reduce healthcare costs A sustainability initiative in a health facility does reduce not only costs associated with energy consumption but also minimizes waste. Should AdventHealth Orlando, for instance, resolve to implement a Sustainability Initiative, some of its services are likely to be affected. Firstly, the implementation of a medical device reprocessing unit would reduce the quantity of medical supplies purchased. This means that the health facility will use recycled devices from other institutions, and this will significantly reduce the amount of waste generated in the facility (Kaplan et al., 2012).

Secondly, AdventHealth Orlando facility can use discount surgical device exchange rather than buying excessive inventories (Kaplan et al., 2012). This would ensure that only small quantities of the needed surgical devices are procured. In other words, eliminate the aspect of throwing away both used and unused medical equipment by physicians because they either lack space or are caught up with the expiration date. Thirdly, the sustainability Initiative proposed the purchase of a multipack in health care facilities to ensure that physicians use just a unit at a time, and leave the unused items on the shelf (Kaplan et al., 2012). The hospital may also decide to eliminate some items from the physicians’ cards and reduce wasted items from OR packs. Although some Sustainability Initiative may look costly at the moment, the long-term gain based on the environmental and the financial cost is unmatched. These gains provide a positive and measurable impact on individual patient’s health and the health of the entire community.

Suggestions for community partnerships and education programs

Community partnerships mean the involvement of people and other non-profit making organizations in society in health practices that can help solve their problems. In our case, community partnership may entail involving various stakeholders in the community to solve health concerns that are prevalent in that community. Despite being among the best medical hospitals offering services, AdventHealth Orland partners with the World Health Organization to promote affordable and sustainable health care to every citizen. The health services are provided by a team of highly qualified health care professions who are committed to their work.

I suggest that health facilities should partner with the community to ensure that health services are provided to each patient regardless of their age, skin color, gender, or social class. Additionally, health facilities should partner with communities to improve the wellbeing of all citizens through proactive effort to deliver equal medical and healthcare services. Community partnerships create an opportunity for hospitals to introduce educational programs. Therefore, hospitals should seize the opportunity and educate people in the community about things such as oral health, substance use, nutrition, chronic diseases, and mental health. This, in turn, improves the quality of life among the people in the community.

Petition to the leadership for resources to enact the initiative

I am appealing to the leadership of AdventHealth Orlando to consider sparing financial resources to facilitate the implementation of this sustainability initiative. It is even more straightforward for the facility as it is not mandatory to implement everything at once. Instead, the top management can come up with a plan to facilitate partial implementation. It is also important to note that although it may be a little bit expensive to implement the sustainability initiative, its long-term cost benefits are unmatched. In other words, the cost benefits that will accrue to the health care facility in future is by far more than the expenses it will incur now. Sustainability initiative proposal;

Diagrams, flowcharts, and other visuals that support the sustainability initiative

Story Board

Source: Gograph.com

Annotated bibliography

Haines, T. P., Hill, A. M., Hill, K. D., Brauer, S. G., Hoffmann, T., Etherton-Beer, C., & McPhail, S. M. (2013). Cost-effectiveness of patient education for the prevention of falls in hospital: economic evaluation from a randomized controlled trial. BMC medicine, 11(1), 135.

The article, aimed to examine the cost-effective way of reducing falls in hospitals. According to the article, falls concerned the older adults and their families as they might affect the patient’s long-term and short-term health. Falls can be prevented through targeted and multifactorial programs. The study assessed patient education on sane patients using multimedia that was provided by trained health professionals.  Haines et al. (2013) found that the cost of a sane patient being a faller is about $14592 while the cost of educating patients to inhibit them falling is about $596. The study further noted that $294 was needed to limit a fall. The sustainability initiative is an energy policy aim at lessening energy in the residence of the elderly adults. The articles advocated for education as the least costly method of preventing falls. Thus, the article supports sustainability by illuminating the importance of educating the old patients on the energy policy to lessen their energy use effectively. Sustainability initiative proposal;

Patient education – An overlooked factor in the cost of care. (2014, September 12). Costs of Care. https://costsofcare.org/patient-education-an-overlooked-factor-in-the-cost-of-care/

This article advocates for a teach-back process in which patients and their families learn about medication and discharge instructions by discussing with one another. The article also claims that the teach-back process allows nurses to strengthen and support the patient or their families’ understanding of their teaching. The author maintains that the teach-back is an excellent way of educating the patient and healthcare costs that might arise from unplanned readmissions and the related costs.  The article relates to the susta          inability initiative since it promotes education, which effectively informs patients about sustainability policy.

García-Sanz-Calcedo, J. (2014). Analysis on energy efficiency in healthcare buildings. Journal of Healthcare Engineering, 5.

This article aimed to analyze and quantify the energy behavior of average health care facilities to help estimate the likelihood of saving on cost through various measures to reduce energy demand in Extremadura, Spain. The author examined the average energy consumption in 55 health care facilities sized between 500 and 3,500 m². This article found that the average energy consumption in a health care center per year is about 86.01 kWh/m², with a standard deviation of 16.8 kWh/m². The findings further noted that it is possible to reduce the amount of energy consumed by €4.77/m². In other words, a health care facility of size 1,000 m² has the potential to reduce about 10,801 kWh annually by investing €11,601. Through this, the facility saves about €2,961/year.

Kaplan, S., Sadler, B., Little, K., Franz, C., & Orris, P. (2012). Can sustainable hospitals help bend the health care cost curve?. Commonwealth Fund.

This article aims to investigate data from selected health facilities highlighting the various approaches that help reduce energy and waste and achieve operating efficiencies. The authors of this study analyzed the data and came up with a few findings. They found that health facilities can save up to $5.4 billion within five years and $15 billion within ten years by merely implementing energy conservation techniques. Some of the methods include lighting upgrades, variable-frequency drives, fume hoods, steam insulating jackets, motor upgrades, zone air handler scheduling, occupancy sensors for public areas, off-hours shutdown, and unoccupied period controls. Additionally, the use of device reprocessing approach and pack reformulation was found to reduce the amount of waste produced in health facilities significantly. Sustainability initiative proposal;