The Tamesis
As climate pressure increases, it is critical to equip professionals with the data, carbon literacy and practical skills to reduce the footprint of healthcare.
Amid increasing climate pressure and healthcare systems coping with growing demands, sustainability has become a core factor in how hospitals, governments and health organizations deliver care.
But more importantly, as clinician and researcher Dr Michelle Tan Bee Hua pointed out in an interview with Healthcare Asia, this shift provides opportunities for future-focused graduates and the new roles they create.
The future of healthcare
Dr. Michelle’s career is a testament to how sustainability is reshaping healthcare, and she emphasizes that health and climate are closely linked. Therefore, healthcare professionals can no longer ignore the industry’s contribution to climate change.
“My sustainability journey began almost unexpectedly, through a project to revamp our operating room recycling program. This experience opened my eyes to the amount of waste present in daily patient care and led me to work on multiple hospital sustainability initiatives over the years,” she said.
An anesthesiologist at Changi General Hospital in Singapore, Dr Michelle also noted how she became aware of the global warming potential of the inhaled anesthetic gases she uses every day, which prompted her to learn more about carbon analysis and climate science.
She says these experiences show that the potential of sustainability research in health care has not yet been fully realized. To contribute more meaningfully to the field, Dr Michelle decided to pursue a PhD in Sustainable Healthcare at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where she was able to learn from faculty by taking master’s level modules while writing a personal thesis.
“Healthcare emissions account for approximately 4% to 5% of greenhouse gas emissions, while in Singapore the footprint is approximately 7%. The consequences of these emissions are not limited to environmental issues, but include adverse health consequences from heat-related illnesses, respiratory illnesses, insect-borne diseases such as dengue fever, and even disruption of healthcare services during extreme weather events,” she stressed. “It is therefore clear that the industry is both affected by and a contributor to climate change.”
While sustainability efforts in Singapore have traditionally focused on infrastructure and energy optimization for hospital operations teams, this is not enough. Sustainable healthcare based on harsh realities has an urgency.
New skills needed in healthcare
Highlighting new skills of increasing importance as sustainability becomes integrated into healthcare, Dr Michelle said that while the core of healthcare has always been the delivery of high-quality care, the environment is changing.
“Just as financial costs have become a routine part of clinical decision-making, carbon costs will increasingly need to be considered,” she said, further noting that data fluency is a requirement.
“Future healthcare professionals must be comfortable working with data and literate enough to understand, interpret and critically evaluate information that impacts clinical and operational decisions,” she added.
Fortunately, this, along with a basic understanding of environmental indicators that align patient care with planetary responsibility, can be achieved through programs such as the NUS MSc in Sustainable Healthcare. Its modules are distinctive in that they teach sustainability concepts directly in a healthcare setting.
“The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) module is particularly valuable because it is specifically tailored to healthcare,” said Dr. Michel. “It is taught by experienced practitioners whose research focuses on healthcare LCA, and the teaching focus is on real healthcare products and services rather than abstract methods.”
Rather than discussing theoretical exercises, these modules discuss real-world complexities including reprocessing through sterilization, trade-offs between single-use and reusable equipment, and how these factors impact system boundaries and calculations.
Additionally, those with no healthcare experience can participate in these programs because sustainable healthcare is not limited to clinicians. As Dr. Michel points out, hospitals and health care systems are run not just by medical staff but also rely on professionals in engineering, public health, business and many other fields.
Looking to the future, Dr. Michel hopes to see sustainable healthcare as an extension of medicine’s core values, raising standards by ensuring that the care provided does not inadvertently harm the planet or the communities within it.
Offering advice to aspiring professionals, she adds, “Be curious and start small. You don’t need to be an expert to make a contribution.”
To learn more about the NUS program, please visit https://medicine.nus.edu.sg/cosm/education/msc/.
