Advocacy
Community Pediatrics
Environmental Health
General Pediatrics
Infectious Diseases
Public Health
Quality Improvement/Patient Safety
Ruth Etzel, MD, PhD
Professor
School of Public Health
George Washington University
Washington, District of Columbia, United States
The healthcare sector significantly contributes to global plastic waste, with much of it stemming from single-use plastics designed for convenience. This session will explore explore strategies to reduce single-use plastics in healthcare by leveraging Quality Improvement (QI) and implementation science methodologies to create sustainable and scalable interventions. Attendees will hear from both primary care and specialty perspectives, highlighting successful QI projects and strategies to overcome barriers to implementation.
The session will begin with a review of statistics on plastic use in healthcare and its environmental and health impacts, including microplastics. Case studies of successful QI projects will follow, demonstrating practical applications of these methodologies. Participants will also have the opportunity to engage in discussions about the challenges and opportunities of implementing plastic reduction strategies in their own institutions.
SIG Speaker: Hilary Ong, MD – University of California, San Francisco
SIG Speaker: Shreya Doshi, MD, FAAP (she/her/hers) – Children's National Health System
SIG Speaker: Harleen Marwah, MD MS (she/her/hers) – New England Journal of Medicine
