Sustainability and Occupational Health Flashcards
Define sustainability
ability to continue over a period of time
What are the 3 levels of sustainability relating to healthcare?
- Global sustainability
- Sustainability of the NHS
- Personal and carer sustainability
What are the 3 areas to concentrate on in terms of sustainability?
- Healthy environment
- Sustainable society/community (3rd sector)
- Enabling patient self management
What areas need to be considered within Global Sustainability?
- Material Inequality - rich getting richer, poor getting poorer
- Population and consumption - increasing pop
- Resource depletion - consumed a large amount of resources already including water
- Climate change - food shortage etc due to floods/droughts
- Loss of biodiversity i..e increased rate of animal extinction due to destruction of habitat
- Crisis in healthcare e.g. chronic health problems and increasing age
What are the global warming threats to health?
- Natural distastes
- High pollution
- Food shortages
- Environmental mass migration
- Agriculture and Food Production
What are the actions undertaken to combat global warming and health?
- Increase use of renewable energy resources (e.g. natural energy resources)
- Modify human behaviour e.g. being more active and using less cars
- Move back to plant based diet
- Educate on carbon literacy and numeracy
- Promote patient resilience
- Teach healthcare students that we are part of wider ecological system
Sustainable NHS can take the following measures to fight global warming…
- Reduce material waste e.g. papers sharps, drugs, packaging
- Improve travel strategies
- Use of technology
- Implement self management of health e,.g. exercise and diet
- energy saving by switching to renewable energy
How can the NHS implement sustainability by reducing carbon care? similar to above
PRIORITISING ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH:
1. Substitute harmful chemicals with safer alternatives (reduce and safely dispose waste)
- Use energy efficiently and switch to renewable energy (reduce water consumption)
- Improve travel strategies
- Purchase and serve sustainably grown food
- Safely manage and dispose of pharmaceuticals
- Adopt greener building design and construction; purchase safer and more sustainable products
What are the benefits of low carbon care?
- Prevents conditions
- Gives greater responsibility to patients managing their own health
- Leaner in serving design and delivery
- Uses lowest carbon technologies
How does the WHO define health?
A state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease.
Define Resilience
the ability to quickly return to a previous good condition
Define Sustainability
the ability to continue over a period of time
What are the positive factors that contribute to a sustainable career in medicine? (8)
- Job security
- Financial Security
- Stable terms and conditions
- Respect for professionalism and knowledge
- Appreciation for being in the role of a doctor and helping others
- working with a team
- be able to develop knowledge and interests
- Need to ensure team is harmonious and effective and can adapt to change
What are the challenged in a medical career?
- Considerable and rapid workload e.g. 10 minute appointments
- Time management
- Increasingly complex care over time (aging population with many co-morbidities)
- Relentless arrival of mail and blood results and having enough time to action them/ process them
- Care vs cure (long term conditions)
- Running a business over time (potentially)
- Need to ensure team is harmonious and effective and can adapt to change
What constitutes a fit note (replaced a sick note)
- Facilitates early discussion about returning to work and rehabilitation
- Includes items of consideration for employers when signing a patient’s return to work
- Can only be completed by a doctor
- Not binding on the employer and doesn’t affect statutory sick pay
- Required if patient has been off for more than 7 consecutive days (including non-working days)
