Emergency Departments
Summary / Key takeaways
Emergency departments are among the most resource-intensive areas of the healthcare system, operating continuously while managing high patient volumes, time-sensitive care, and unpredictable clinical demand. They are also increasingly responding to the direct health impacts of climate change, including heat-related illness, wildfire smoke exposure, infectious disease pressures, severe weather events, and disruptions to health and community infrastructure. These intersecting pressures highlight the need for emergency departments to deliver care that is both environmentally sustainable and operationally resilient.
Approaches such as reducing unnecessary material use, improving segregation of waste streams, and prioritizing reusable products and equipment, where safe and appropriate, are increasingly recognized as important components of sustainable healthcare delivery. Sustainability initiatives are also closely connected to broader goals of health system resilience, preparedness, and stewardship.
Meaningful change requires more than individual interventions. Education, interdisciplinary collaboration, implementation science, and quality improvement methodologies are essential to embedding sustainability into everyday emergency care practice. This work also depends on engagement across clinicians, researchers, educators, operational leaders, and learners.
Poster: Reducing single-use materials in Laurentian emergency departments
Suggested Citation:
Jamaty C, Machane S. Reducing single-use plastics in Laurentian emergency departments. Version 1.0. [Internet]. CASCADES; 2024. [Cited DATE]. Available from https://