Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38000001›Full record

ArticleAnaesthesia and intensive care2024

Exploring anaesthetists' views on the carbon footprint of anaesthesia and identifying opportunities and challenges for reducing its impact on the environment.

Matilde Breth-Petersen, Alexandra L Barratt, Forbes McGain, Justin J Skowno, George Zhong, Andrew D Weatherall, Katy Jl Bell, Kristen M Pickles

Open access · hybridAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Anaesthesia and intensive care, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
2.0field-weighted citation impact, top 14% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 13 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  10. The environmental effects of anesthetic agents and anesthesia practices.Journal of anesthesia and translational medicine · 2024
    Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Matilde Breth-PetersenWiser Healthcare and Healthy Environments and Lives Network, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-1300-1091
Alexandra L BarrattWiser Healthcare and Healthy Environments and Lives Network, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Forbes McGainWestern Health Melbourne, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-1977-9072
Justin J SkownoSchool of Child and Adolescent Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
George ZhongDepartment of Anaesthesia, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, Sydney, NSW, Australia.ORCID 0000-0003-0286-4606
Andrew D WeatherallSchool of Child and Adolescent Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.ORCID 0000-0001-6070-9466
Katy Jl BellWiser Healthcare and Healthy Environments and Lives Network, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
Kristen M PicklesWiser Healthcare and Healthy Environments and Lives Network, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-1621-3217
The University of Sydney · AUThe University of Melbourne · AUWestmead Hospital · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

A shift in practice by anaesthetists away from anaesthetic gases with high global warming potential towards lower emission techniques (e.g. total intravenous anaesthesia) could result in significant carbon savings for the health system. The purpose of this qualitative interview study was to understand anaesthetists' perspectives on the carbon footprint of anaesthesia, and views on shifting practice towards more environmentally sustainable options. Anaesthetists were recruited from four hospitals in Western Sydney, Australia. Data were organised according to the capability-opportunity-motivation model of behaviour change. Twenty-eight anaesthetists were interviewed (July-September 2021). Participants' age ranged from 29 to 62 years (mean 43 years), 39% were female, and half had completed their anaesthesia training between 2010 and 2019. Challenges to the wider use of greener anaesthetic agents were identified across all components of the capability-opportunity-motivation model: capability (gaps in clinician skills and experience, uncertainty regarding research evidence); opportunity (norms, time, and resource pressures); and motivation (beliefs, habits, responsibility and guilt). Suggestions for encouraging a shift to more environmentally friendly anaesthesia included access to education and training, implementing guidelines and audit/feedback models, environmental restructuring, improving resource availability, reducing low value care, and building the research evidence base on the safety of alternative agents and their impacts on patient outcomes. We identified opportunities and challenges to reducing the carbon footprint of anaesthesia in Australian hospitals by way of system-level and individual behavioural change. Our findings will be used to inform the development of communication and behavioural interventions aiming to mitigate carbon emissions of healthcare.

Indexed as

AnesthesiaCarbon FootprintAdultAnesthetistsAustraliaCarbonFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedCarbonAnaesthesiabehaviour changecarbon footprintclimate changeenvironmentsustainability

Identifiers

PMID38000001
PMCPMC10880423
OpenAlexW4388966908

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.