Study: Virtual consultation may significantly reduce carbon footprint of healthcare

Washington [US], May 6 : Virtual consultation, according to recent research published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is a novel and emerging addition to ecologically sustainable health care.

The COVID-19 epidemic has hastened the change to virtual consultation, resulting in its increased utilisation. As health systems throughout the world aspire for net-zero carbon emissions, a fundamental issue arises: what effect does virtual consultation have on environmental sustainability in health care? This topic will be addressed in a new research project led by Sara Shaw and her team. The research, titled "The Role of Virtual Consulting in Developing Environmentally Sustainable Health Care: A Systematic Literature Review," appeared in the Journal of Medical Internet Research. This study investigates the environmental effect of virtual consultation in health care and how it may contribute to the net-zero goal.

The researchers analysed 1672 published papers and selected 23 that focused on a variety of virtual consultation equipment and platforms used in a variety of clinical problems and services. Patient travel time for face-to-face meetings has been substantially decreased as a result of telemedicine appointments, including video and telephone-based visits; hence, virtual consulting can be an efficient strategy to achieve environmental sustainability goals. These studies employed various methodologies and approaches to assess carbon savings, but despite methodological differences, all agreed that virtual consultation greatly decreased carbon emissions.

However, most previous research has not evaluated wider factors such as patient suitability; clinical indication; and orgzational infrastructure affecting the acceptance, use, and growth of virtual consultations.

"Health systems urgently need to become more environmentally sustainable. Our review clearly shows that virtual consultations offer one means to help with that. While the adoption and spread of virtual consulting need to be considered alongside a range of system, orgsational, clinical and patient-related factors, when done well and at scale, they offer significant potential for carbon savings, primarily (though not only) through reductions in travel. The pandemic brought a big shift to virtual carethis is set to continue, and our findings suggest it will help to mitigate the effects of climate change," adds Professor Shaw, from the University of Oxford.

Further work is now urgently needed to fully appreciate the extent of carbon emissions and potential for reductions, as well as other environmental impacts (eg, electronic waste) across the entire clinical pathway, rather than on virtual consultations alone.

Stakeholders associated with virtual consulting services need to better appreciate the potential for reductions in emissions and weigh this up in relation to the benefits and potential risks (eg, adverse events, missed diagnoses) related to providing or scaling up such services. To see a rapid and pronounced change, both funders and evaluators need to routinely include carbon footprint modelling into their design and methods, as well as fully engage with the transdisciplinary endeavor of reviewing, monitoring, and addressing issues of environmental sustainability.