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Practice Greenhealth, HCWH, and the Healthier Hospitals Initiative describe strategies and resources for bringing sustainable practices to the health care sector.&n  enlarge video

Reports and Publications

June 13, 2012
Health Care Research Collaborative

Mercury in Dental Amalgam and Resin-Based Alternatives

Based on current evidence,the ultimate goal of a phase-out of virtually all usage of dental mercury is recommended. This phase-out must be planned and deliberate, assuring continued emphasis on adequate restorations to prevent continued tooth decay and the potential of malnutrition in economically impoverished areas. more 
April 1, 2012
Health Care Research Collaborative

Creating a Culture of Sustainability

Sustainability seeks to balance and simultaneously optimize environmental, social and financial concerns. Sustainability in healthcare represents a particularly challenging undertaking as it necessarily encompasses the wide variety of facilities, operations and activities in a typical healthcare organization. more 
September 2011
Health Care Research Collaborative

Green Cleaning in Healthcare

Green cleaning is a new, promising approach to environmental cleaning that aims at reducing harm to human health and the environment while maintaining or improving the hygiene of the healthcare environ¬ment. more 
December 2010
Health Care Research Collaborative

Highlights from Sustainable Resilient Flooring Report

This document highlights key findings from the full Sustainable Resilient Flooring Choices for Hospitals report. The objective of this study was to examine the recent experiences that architects, installers, facility managers and users have had with alternative, green resilient flooring materials in hospital settings. This research effort focused on specific resilient flooring materials, including rubber, polyolefin and linoleum. more 
December 2010
Health Care Research Collaborative

Sustainable Resilient Flooring Choices for Hospitals

The objective of this study was to examine the recent experiences that architects, installers, facility managers and users have had with alternative, green resilient flooring materials in hospital settings. This research effort focused on specific resilient flooring materials, including rubber, polyolefin and linoleum. Sharing the user experiences is expected to demystify these lesser-known products, identify key issues, and potentially lead to increased adoption. more 
February 2010
Health Care Research Collaborative

Minding the Gap: Research Priorities to Address Pharmaceuticals in the Environment

The purposes of this report are to 1) provide an overview of known information about the life cycle of exposure pathways of pharmaceuticals in the environment, 2) identify the gaps in our knowledge, and 3) make a series of recommendations for further research, policy discussion, and action along the pipeline of exposure pathways. more 
December 2009
Health Care Research Collaborative

Healthcare Ventilation Research Collaborative: Displacement Ventilation Research

In Phase I, research was conducted to assess both natural ventilation and DV in exam rooms, patient rooms and emergency waiting rooms. Testing in 2006 and 2007 in vendor laboratories and in the field supported the hypothesis that low sidewall ventilation at two thirds the air flow of traditional mixing overhead ventilation (OHV) had equal or better performance in all areas. As with any change, practical questions arose from hospital design, operations and code enforcement agencies regarding DV. The questions precipitated a more formal research effort in 2008 to more rigorously test the findings from 2006 and 2007, and to create and validate a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) design tool to respond to the questions that had been raised. more 
October 2009
Health Care Research Collaborative

A Research Agenda for Advancing Patient, Worker and Environmental Health and Safety in the Health Care Sector

This paper focuses on research within the health care sector in the U.S. centering on patient, worker and environmental health and safety. It identifies research priorities at the intersection of these "three safeties." It describes the Health Care Without Harm / Global Safety and Health Initiative (HCWH/GHSI) Research Collaborative, from whose work this Research Agenda was developed. It identifies research priorities in the near- and long-term at the intersection of the three safeties. more 
October 2009
Health Care Research Collaborative

The Accuracy of Alternatives to Mercury Sphygmomanometers

This monograph comprises a review of the medical literature that evaluates the accuracy of mercury, aneroid, and oscillometric blood pressure devices. Although most professional organizations still require mercury for validation protocols, electronic pressure gauges offer superior accuracy and should be substituted for mercury manometers for calibration and validation. Organizations that publish validation and calibration protocols should immediately re-evaluate their recommendations regarding the use of mercury devices. more 
May 7, 2009
A discussion draft paper published by the World Health Organization and Health Care Without Harm

Healthy Hospitals, Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Addressing Climate Change in Health Care Settings

(Discussion Draft) This 32-page discussion draft produced by the World Health Organization and Health Care Without Harm says that the healthcare sector can lead the way against climate change. A radical overhaul of energy consumption in healthcare must take place if Europe is to meet a target of an 80% cut in carbon emissions by 2050. A new report by HCWH and the World Health Organization shows how the health sector can improve energy efficiency and adopt greener approaches to its services. more 
April 2009
Health Care Research Collaborative

Resilient Flooring and Chemical Hazards: A Comparative Analysis of Vinyl and Other Alternatives for Health Care

As currently produced, no resilient flooring option commonly used in health care is perfectly hazard free. The material types vary considerably in the amount, extent, and exposure to PBTs and other chemicals of concern that are involved in each material's life cycle and in the potential for future improvement. There are many opportunities for specifiers and purchasers to encourage manufacturers to reduce or eliminate the use and production of PBTs and chemicals of High Concern, primarily in the linoleum and polyolefin alternatives. With encouragement from the marketplace, some resilient flooring manufacturers can readily reformulate their products to virtually eliminate the PBTs and CMRs from manufacture, use and disposal. more 
April 2009
Health Care Research Collaborative

Cleaning in Healthcare Facilities: Reducing Human Health Effects and Environmental Impacts

Healthcare settings require intensive and frequent cleaning with a wide range of products, both to maintain surface cleanliness, and to prevent and control infection. This document summarizes the main health and environmental impacts related to conventional surface cleaning, describes a systems approach for designing and implementing healthier and environmentally friendlier cleaning strategies for the healthcare sector, and indicates areas where future research and policy initiatives are needed. more 
Version 2.2, revised 2008
Green Guide for Health Care

GGHC's Environmentally Preferable Purchasing: Food Credit Technical Briefing

(GGHC Food Service Credits 1 to 7) This 12-page document, also known as the GGHC v2.2 revised 2008 Food Service section, encourages healthy food purchasing for health care facilities in several ways: 1) adopting a sustainable food policy and plan; 2) educational outreach both to facility staff and the surrounding community; 3) local, sustainably produced food purchasing; 4) use of reusable and environmentally preferred non-reusable food service ware items; 5) support of local farms, farmers’ markets, and community supported agriculture; 6) food donation and waste reduction; 7) alignment of food vendor options with the facility’s healthy, sustainable food program. more 
September 22, 2008
Health Care Without Harm

End of an Era: The Phase-out of Mercury-Based Blood Pressure Measurement Devices

The European Parliament has mandated a review of the technical and economic feasability of alternatives to mercury column sphygmomanometers — medical devices used to measure blood pressure. This brief report provides an overview of the tremendous success the US healthcare community has experienced in delivering safe, accurate, affordable mercury-free blood pressure measurement. We hope it will benefit the deliberations in the EU. more 
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Webinar: How Sustainable Hospitals Are Achieving Major Savings

Health Care Without Harm and The Commonwealth Fund present a webinar based on the recent groundbreaking findings on how hospitals can achieve savings and reduce their carbon footprint through sustainability programs. This one-hour webinar draws on the findings of a recent Health Care Without Harm Research Collaborative/ Commonwealth Fund study, "Can Sustainable Hospitals Help Bend the Health Care Cost Curve?" which shows that savings from interventions to reduce energy use and waste, and achieve operating room supply efficiencies could exceed $5.4 billion over five years and $15 billion over 10 years for the health care sector. In addition to detailing the study findings, the webinar includes presentations from two health systems about why they chose to focus on sustainability and what challenges and rewards are in store.

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