This continuing professional development module aims to inform anesthesiologists about the magnitude of healthcare-related waste and its contribution to global warming, as well as providing general strategies to improve environmental sustainability in daily anesthesia practice in a Canadian context.

Global warming is considered to be the biggest global health threat of the 21st century.

Healthcare is not only adversely impacted by but also a significant contributor to global warming and environmental degradation. Healthcare provision produces 4.6% of the total national greenhouse gas emissions in Canada, while healthcare waste has increased unabated in recent years, largely because of increased use of disposable medical supplies. Operating rooms are highly energy-intensive and produce up to 33% of total hospital waste. Increasingly, attention in healthcare is being focused on environmental sustainability by exploring evidence-based approaches to more sustainable delivery of healthcare.

Anesthesiologists have a unique opportunity to be champions of environmental sustainability through evidence-based practices, while simultaneously reaping significant synergistic health, cost, and quality co-benefits.

Objectives of this continuing professional development (CPD) module:

After reading this module, the reader should be able to:

1. Define environmental sustainability as it applies to anesthesia practice.
2. Discuss the role of life-cycle assessment in identifying environmentally sustainable options for commonly used anesthesia equipment.
3. Outline the environmental impact of commonly used anesthetic agents and methods of mitigating these effects.
4. Determine the role of recycling in reducing the environmental impact of modern anesthetic practice.