TY - JOUR
T1 - Promoting behavioural change by educating anaesthetists about the environmental impact of inhalational anaesthetic agents
T2 - A systematic review
AU - Nolan, Brieana C.
AU - Hoskins, Michael J.
AU - Phillips, Bríd
AU - Evans, Kiah L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.
PY - 2024/11
Y1 - 2024/11
N2 - Of the total carbon footprint of Australia, 7% is attributed to healthcare. In the UK, inhalational agents make up 5% of the healthcare carbon footprint. This systematic review aims to determine which methods of education about the environmental impact of inhalational anaesthetic agents can be utilised to promote behaviour change, reducing the anaesthetic-related carbon footprint. This systematic review sourced records from CINAHL, EMBASE, ERIC, JBI and MEDLINE from 1970 to March 2022. The search identified 589 records, 13 of which met eligibility criteria after the screening process, in which 10 of these records were conference abstracts. Education curricula focused on inhalational agent choice (69%), lowering the fresh gas flow during maintenance anaesthesia (69%), encouraging alternatives such as total intravenous anaesthesia (23%) and/or switching off the gas on transfer (8%). The most common teaching techniques utilised in education curricula were didactic lectures (85%), visual prompts (54%), emails (46%), and conversation forums (31%). All but one study reported a positive relationship between teaching sessions and behavioural change resulting in lower inhalational anaesthetic use by participants and their organisations, reducing healthcare-associated emissions. This systematic review has demonstrated that single education sessions as well as multi-focused, multimodal education curricula on the topic of greener anaesthesia can be beneficial in promoting behavioural change.
AB - Of the total carbon footprint of Australia, 7% is attributed to healthcare. In the UK, inhalational agents make up 5% of the healthcare carbon footprint. This systematic review aims to determine which methods of education about the environmental impact of inhalational anaesthetic agents can be utilised to promote behaviour change, reducing the anaesthetic-related carbon footprint. This systematic review sourced records from CINAHL, EMBASE, ERIC, JBI and MEDLINE from 1970 to March 2022. The search identified 589 records, 13 of which met eligibility criteria after the screening process, in which 10 of these records were conference abstracts. Education curricula focused on inhalational agent choice (69%), lowering the fresh gas flow during maintenance anaesthesia (69%), encouraging alternatives such as total intravenous anaesthesia (23%) and/or switching off the gas on transfer (8%). The most common teaching techniques utilised in education curricula were didactic lectures (85%), visual prompts (54%), emails (46%), and conversation forums (31%). All but one study reported a positive relationship between teaching sessions and behavioural change resulting in lower inhalational anaesthetic use by participants and their organisations, reducing healthcare-associated emissions. This systematic review has demonstrated that single education sessions as well as multi-focused, multimodal education curricula on the topic of greener anaesthesia can be beneficial in promoting behavioural change.
KW - anaesthetics
KW - Anaesthetists
KW - climate change
KW - global warming
KW - inhalation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85208451820&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0310057X241263113
DO - 10.1177/0310057X241263113
M3 - Review article
C2 - 39212176
AN - SCOPUS:85208451820
SN - 0310-057X
VL - 52
SP - 356
EP - 368
JO - Anaesthesia and Intensive Care
JF - Anaesthesia and Intensive Care
IS - 6
ER -