Assignment Content Access the University Library. Identify and read two to three articles that discuss the cost and benefits associated with the initiative you have selected. Note: If relevant articl

Running head: SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVE IN A HOSPITAL 0

Sustainability Initiative in a Hospital

Student’s Name

Institution

Date

Sustainability Initiative in a Hospital

Introduction

Sustainability is becoming a vital concern in the modern health care setting. Due to its high demand, it has developed into an important concept adopted by the majority of the health care setting to enabled hospitals to cut the cost of operation while offering quality customer services. Sustainability initiative, in this instance, is defined as ways in which organizations seek proper options in place to create quality services, which not only leads to cost reduction but also improve customer satisfaction. Most health care centers minimize cost by enabling access to treatment services on time, improving the patient's outcome, and minimizing the time the patients stay in hospitals. The health care setting I have chosen, in this case, Mercy Medical Center, which provides health care to patients.

Roles of departments

In this health care setting, various departments deal with discharging of various health services provided by the hospital. The emergency department deals with medical treatment with no prior appointments. Most of the cases here may be life-threatening; therefore, the initial treatment must be extended to cover all forms of illness, including assessing the vital organs. When the patients are not responding to treatment or seriously injured, they are taken to resuscitation areas. Here they are attended by mostly one doctor and two nurses with training on trauma and advanced cardiac life support training, according to ( Lockey, Lin, Cheng,2018). High-level testing may be done here, such as testing blood, CT, or MRI scans, to determine if the patients should be discharged or admitted for further treatments.

The intensive care units are where patients who are in critical conditions are placed in life-supporting equipment, so as they can be closely monitored by highly trained doctors and nurses who monitor their responsiveness to medical treatments to ensure they recover. Radiology is where the test of images is done, that is where many diseases are diagnosed, and treatment progress is monitored to be able to speculate the outcome. It is achieved by performing x-rays, CT scans, and ultrasounds on the patients. Pathology or the laboratory is a department that deals with testing fluids and secretions from the patient's body to determine the infections. Standard tests conducted include blood tests, urine tests, and stool tests to identify any forms of infection.

Energy sustainability

Cutting energy consumption leads to a reduction in operating costs in the health care facility. After doing research and analyzing the information collected, I realized there is a lot of inefficiency usage of energy in health care. I notice there is need to benchmark the energy performance in the hospital using Agency (EPA'S) Energy Star Portfolio Manager, which is a free tool that allows facilities to track their energy usage and compare to their energy use intensity measurement to national average according to ( Kono, McNulty, Abramson,2020).

Data collection methods used

Through holding forums with the hospital staff and customers, I was able to get ideas, their opinions, and their thoughts on anyways they may like changes relating to the lightings or power usage in the hospital. In this forum, I was also able to note any problems that might occur in case of any changes done on how energy is utilized there. This, therefore, enables one to have a basis on all the plans. Also, through holding interviews with friends and individuals from other hospitals who provided the best insight as most of them have solved or encountered such challenges of energy mismanagements and have been able to solve them.

Method to adopt in minimizing the energy wastage

Through the energy initiatives, energy utilization reduction can be achieved in various ways, upgrading the lighting system in place by use of LED lighting, which is more efficient and has a longer lifespan than the commonly used incandescent lamp. Heating and cooling of unoccupied areas in the hospital should be reduced, such as in empty halls. There is also the use of sensors to turn off the various machines in the hospital when they are not in use. By sensitizing the workers in the hospital on the importance of energy conservation can also contribute to the reduction of unnecessary usage of power when not required.

Expected outcomes

The cost of energy is expected to go down, given that energy is 50% 0f a health care facility manager’s budgets according to (Maiorano, 2018). These initiatives will help in saving approximately 20%-30% of the energy used in the hospital. Since the lighting in hospital and machine and equipment operation used in health care contribute to the highest usage of energy by using smart lighting and upgrading to LED, it will lead to usage of low energy, therefore, minimizing the cost of operation.

Conclusion

The health care can achieve their goals by adopting energy efficiency initiatives. The major goals of a hospital are to be able to offer quality services to its customers at cost-effective means. Energy is one of the important utility in hospital operations and activities and It should be utilized in ways that there is a value obtained on its use. Therefore initiative that minimizes energy wastage should be encouraged and widely applied to reduce the cost of running the hospital.

References

Kono, J., McNulty, M. K., & Abramson, B. (2020). Raising the Bar: Comparing Building Energy Benchmarking Methods. ASHRAE Transactions, 126(1).

Lockey, A., Lin, Y., & Cheng, A. (2018). Impact of adult advanced cardiac life support course participation on patient outcomes—a systematic review and meta-analysis. Resuscitation, 129, 48-54.

Maiorano, J. (2018). Beyond technocracy: Forms of rationality and uncertainty in organizational behavior and energy efficiency decision making in Canada. Energy research & social science, 44, 385-398.]