Environmental Sustainability Not Prioritized in Dialysis Facilities

THURSDAY, Dec. 1, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Environmental sustainability is currently not prioritized in dialysis facilities, according to a study published online Nov. 11 in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

Benjamin Talbot, M.B.B.S., from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, and colleagues conducted an online survey to examine environmental sustainability practices within dialysis facilities between November 2019 and December 2020. Responses were obtained from 132 dialysis facilities.

Most responses were obtained from public satellite facilities, in-center dialysis facilities, and co-located dialysis and home therapy facilities (40, 25, and 21 percent, respectively). The researchers found opportunities for improvement in environmental sustainability practices in three domains: culture; building design, infrastructure, and energy use; and operations. Specifically, a minority of facilities reported having an environmental sustainability strategy in place or undertaking sustainability audits (33 and 20 percent, respectively); only 7 percent reported inclusion of environmental training during staff induction. Few facilities reported renewable energy use, reclaiming reverse osmosis reject water, or using motion-sensor light switches (14, 13, and 44 percent, respectively). A minority of facilities reported waste management education, auditing waste generation, or considering environmental sustainability in procurement decisions (36, 17, and 25 percent, respectively).

“Environmental sustainability practices, education, and improvements are currently not prioritized,” the authors write. “Most facilities reported only informal efforts to raise awareness of environmental sustainability, and strategies or policies to drive this were not often in place.”

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Abstract/Full Text