Nicole Campion

Life Cycle Assessment Perspectives on Delivering an Infant in the US

This study introduces life cycle assessment as a tool to analyze one aspect of sustainability in healthcare: the birth of a baby. The process life cycle assessment case study presented evaluates two common procedures in a hospital, a cesarean section and a vaginal birth. This case study was conducted at Magee-Womens Hospital of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, which delivers over 10,000 infants per year. The results show that heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), waste disposal, and the production of the disposable custom packs comprise a large percentage of the environmental impacts. Applying the life cycle assessment tool to medical procedures allows hospital decision makers to target and guide efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of healthcare procedures.

Do single-use medical devices containing biopolymers reduce the environmental impacts of surgical procedures compared with their plastic equivalents?

Background While petroleum-based plastics are extensively used in health care, recent developments in biopolymer manufacturing have created new opportunities for increased integration of biopolymers into medical products, devices and services. This study compared the environmental impacts of single-use disposable devices with increased biopolymer content versus typically manufactured devices in hysterectomy. Methods A comparative life cycle assessment of single-use disposable medical products containing plastic(s) versus the same single-use medical devices with biopolymers substituted for plastic(s) at Magee-Women’s Hospital (Magee) in Pittsburgh, PA and the products used in four types of hysterectomies that contained plastics potentially suitable for biopolymer substitution. Magee is a 360-bed teaching hospital, which performs approximately 1400 hysterectomies annually. Results There are life cycle environmental impact tradeoffs when substituting biopolymers for petroplastics in procedures such as hysterectomies. The substitution of biopolymers for petroleum-based plastics increased smog-related impacts by approximately 900% for laparoscopic and robotic hysterectomies, and increased ozone depletion-related impacts by approximately 125% for laparoscopic and robotic hysterectomies. Conversely, biopolymers reduced life cycle human health impacts, acidification and cumulative energy demand for the four hysterectomy procedures. The integration of biopolymers into medical products is correlated with reductions in carcinogenic impacts, non-carcinogenic impacts and respiratory effects. However, the significant agricultural inputs associated with manufacturing biopolymers exacerbate environmental impacts of products and devices made using biopolymers. Conclusions The integration of biopolymers into medical products is correlated with reductions in carcinogenic impacts, non-carcinogenic impacts and respiratory effects; however, the significant agricultural inputs associated with manufacturing biopolymers exacerbate environmental impacts.

Understanding green building design and healthcare outcomes: Evidence-based design analysis of an oncology unit

AbstractEvidence-based design (EBD) studies have grown rapidly over the last decade, attempting to link traditional building design to building occupants, with a particular emphasis on healthcare settings. Additionally, there has been an increase in green building design (GBD) for most new construction; however, the effects of GBD on the use phase and occupant health is not well studied. This study captured the impact of both EBD and green building strategies by analyzing different metrics across a 3-year period for the same unit (oncology) spanning the traditional hospital (Unit 2800) space and the new green addition (Unit 5800). Of the six categories analyzed, quality of care, productivity, and utilities all stayed relatively unchanged from Unit 2800 to Unit 5800, with a slight decrease in number of staff needed due to a lower census. Expenses, staff satisfaction, and patient satisfaction saw a general upward trend from Unit 2800 to Unit 5800. As the green building industry continues to grow, quantitati...

Evaluation of a Living Building using Dynamic LCA

Dynamic life cycle assessment (DLCA) was used to evaluate the environmental performance of a zero-energy building, the Center for Sustainable Landscapes at Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh, PA. The DLCA model accounted for temporally and spatially explicit modeling of the avoided emissions from on-site renewable energy systems - geothermal heat storage, and photovoltaic electricity generation. Real building operational data was used to support the DLCA for the year 2013, including hourly data from July to December. The building data were combined with electrical grid emissions from national, regional and local sections of the electrical grid. Local electrical grid data were evaluated at both monthly and hourly intervals. For all spatial and temporal scales examined, avoided impacts due to reduced demand from the electrical grid were compared with embodied energy and impacts of the materials used to construct the CSL buildings on-site renewable energy systems. The time when the cumulative avoided impacts were equal to the embodied impacts in the materials was considered as the payback time in each impact category. For the categories of fossil energy use, global warming potential, and acidification potential, payback times were calculated to be in the range of 3 to 8 years, with the local electrical grid producing the longer payback times due to its lower fossil energy content and emissions stemming from its heavy reliance on nuclear power generation. Changing the evaluation from a monthly to an hourly time step changed the payback time in the fossil energy and global warming categories by approximately 10%, while having no effect on acidification. Future research is needed for environmental impacts in other categories, including indoor impacts, and the development of temporally and spatially specific impact assessment characterization factors.

Life cycle assessment of medical procedures: Vaginal and cesarean section births

Despite being a heavily regulated industry and one in which patient safety and wellbeing trumps many other concerns, healthcares environmental impacts can be improved. Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to quantify the environmental impacts associated with cesarean section and vaginal births at a US hospital, this study identifies aspects of birthing procedures upon which hospitals should focus to maximize efforts related to sustainability. This case study hospital, which delivers about 10,000 babies a year, emits about 227,000 kg of CO2 equivalents annually from birth procedures alone. Results show that for both cesarean section and vaginal births, impacts related to the production and disposal of single-use items, as well as the impacts related to the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning contribute the most to the impact categories analyzed.

Use of Life Cycle Assessment in healthcare: A preliminary Cesarean section case study

ONE of the principle rules of medical ethics is the oath, “First, do no harm.” Nearly everyone in the developed world is impacted by healthcare. In 2008, US hospitals employed over 5.3 million people and spent nearly

A Materials Life Cycle Assessment of a Net-Zero Energy Building

320 billion on goods and services from other businesses [1]. In 2009, healthcare represented about 17% of the total US GDP. The healthcare sector consumes 73 trillion kWh of electricity annually, and its hospital facilities are the second most energy intensive facility type in the US [2]. The health industry also generates large quantities of waste.