“Bright” ideas from Medical Students on Clinical Placements

Case study submitted as part of Lancet Commission call for case studies.

Team members / location: Wales, UK

Issue: The healthcare sector contributes heavily to climate change, producing 4.4% of global carbon emissions. Medical students in the UK are required to engage in Quality Improvement Projects (QIP) and projects that reduce carbon emissions have the potential for financial, environmental, and public health benefits.

Intervention: Reducing the screen brightness of all monitors on an NHS ward and hospital library to 40%, over the course of an 8-week placement block, culminating in presenting our results to consultants across the hospital with the aims of increasing awareness of sustainability in healthcare.

Outcomes:

• Clinical
  There was no impact on patient care - brightness of radiology was not altered screens to ensure interpretation of important imaging could not be affected. Reducing carbon footprint will reduce the health effects of carbon emissions- which are both direct effects on humans and indirect via climate change.
• Environmental
  Carbon saving of 311 kg of CO2e per annum- the equivalent of driving 2,157 kilometres.
• Social
  Our hope is that the hospital wards which replicate this project will feel a sense of participation in sustainability in healthcare, and that if the project is again led by medical students it will help them feel empowered as a junior and raise their awareness of climate change and the role in which the healthcare system plays in it early on in their careers.
• Financial
  Financial saving of £282 per annum.

Key learning point: The key to our success was making the methods replicable to incentivise staff and other students to complete the initiative on a hospital-wide and trust-wide scale. We recommend that others planning a similar project use the same covert methodology (i/e do not tell staff on the ward you are planning on reducing the brightness) so they are not subject to bias when asking for their feedback on the effects on clinical work afterwards.