ArticleBMC health services research2026
Australian healthcare workers' perspectives, practices, and perceived barriers to a more environmentally sustainable health system: a cross-sectional survey.
Article in BMC health services research, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
20 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHealthcare is a significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and solid waste. This study evaluated Australian healthcare workers’ knowledge, current behaviours and perceived barriers related to improving healthcare sustainability.
methodsFrom November 2023 to January 2024, we conducted an online cross-sectional survey of employees at 12 healthcare organisations in Victoria, Australia. All employees of participating institutions at the time of the survey were considered eligible; students were excluded. The survey link was distributed to all employees via email, and participation was based on self-selection. Our survey included questions from the validated Climate Change Attitudes Survey and Climate and Health Tool, focusing on the domains of awareness, concern and behaviours at home and at work. We also developed original, non-validated questions to explore self-reported barriers to reducing healthcare-associated greenhouse gas emissions and waste, and perceived responsibility for action. Statistical analyses included logistic and linear regression models with cluster-robust standard errors, paired t-tests, Wilcoxon and McNemar tests to compare responses across groups.
resultsWe received 2,040 complete and eligible responses. Most respondents were women (1,559, 76%), working in metropolitan locations (1,787, 88%) and employed in the public sector (1,937, 95%). Overall, concern regarding climate change (mean score: 3.29; 5-point Likert scale from 0 to 4) was slightly higher than awareness (mean score: 3.09). Respondents reported taking fewer sustainability actions at work compared to their personal lives (mean score 2.09 versus 2.48, p < 0.001). Our original, exploratory questions demonstrated that the three most common barriers to reducing healthcare-associated waste and greenhouse gas emissions were identical: lack of knowledge (39% and 53%, respectively), busyness (26% and 20%) and perceived lack of support from superiors (26% and 19%).
conclusionsWhile respondents demonstrated high levels of climate awareness and concern, they faced numerous barriers to pursuing greater sustainability actions at work. The three most frequently reported barriers were a lack of knowledge, a lack of time, and a lack of support. Consistent with previous studies, employees struggled to transfer environmental sustainability practices from their personal lives to the workplace. Our findings offer practical insights into how employee perspectives can shape future strategies to enhance healthcare environmental sustainability.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.