“The World Health Organization has said that the biggest threat to global health is climate change,” David F. Chang, MD, told the audience at an American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators (ASOA) program this weekend in Boston. “Being in ophthalmology, we have the highest surgical volumes, so we have an obligation—and the opportunity—to do something about this” by reducing emissions and implementing environmentally friendly practices, he said.
Dr. Chang, a cataract surgeon in private practice in Los Altos, California, has been a leading proponent of sustainability in health care for many years. Two years ago, at the ASCRS meeting in April 2022, he and other advocates joined with leaders from ASCRS, the AAO and the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) to launch EyeSustain.org. This website, along with a companion mobile application, features many helpful resources related to sustainable practices in the clinic and operating room.
“We’re a coalition led by these three major societies, and I’m happy to say that each of them has made sustainability part of its core mission, both educational and policy,” Dr. Chang said. “We’re really the first specialty of medicine to have done this. The idea is to create a network to advance sustainability.”
Through the EyeSustain website, practice or facility administrators have access to a resource called My Green Doctor, which can help them identify ways to reduce waste and energy consumption. EyeSustain has also created a simple seven-point surgical facility pledge, which is a symbolic statement that an ASC will try to reduce unnecessary waste, costs, and environmental impact, and Dr. Chang encouraged administrators to have surgeons or ASC owners sign the pledge online. “The more people that [sign the pledge], it gives your peers an incentive to also take action [on sustainability],” he said.
Hayley Boling, MBA, COE, president of ASOA for 2024-2025 and a member of the EyeSustain board, spoke about the green initiatives that have occurred at Boling Vision Center and Insight Surgery Center in northern Indiana, where she is chief executive officer. “In my practice and ASC, it did not happen overnight,” Ms. Boling said. “It is about finding what works for you. It is about finding small changes that you can do consistently, because over time those small things can have a big impact.”
Boling provided examples of some ways her clinic and ASC have become more sustainable and efficient. “In addition to training that we do with our surgeons and our staff, we regularly evaluate our ASC surgical packs to make sure we aren’t including things in those packs that are just going into landfills,” she said. “We use multi-dose bottles of topical medications whenever permissible. Instead of using full-body drapes during cataract surgery in the ASC, we just use face drapes. We look regularly for appropriate options for reusable, rather than single-use, instruments. We even have our ASC and clinics powered by solar.”
Boling stressed how important it is for administrators and surgeons to become passionate about implementing sustainable practices in their facilities. “I encourage you to go home and figure out a plan. When you’re intentional about something, it really is going to matter. What you’re doing when you take that EyeSustain pledge is to say, ‘I’m willing to try. I’m willing to do something about it and to see if we can make an impact at the clinic or ASC level, so that hopefully we can make a bigger impact at the overall industry level.”
The EyeSustain.org surgical facility pledge can be found here.