ESCH-R Podcast: first episode live!
Welcome to the podcast of the ESCH-R research project, the podcast about circularity in hospitals!
Together with Esch-R partners from healthcare and industry, we discuss the concrete steps the healthcare sector can take toward a circular future.
In each episode, hosts Nicole Hunfeld (Esch-R coordinator) and Dimitry Vleugel welcome a guest from the Esch-R network. Expect sustainability experts from leading companies like Philips and Medtronics, or medical professionals, such as a surgeon aiming to make robot-assisted surgeries more sustainable.
With contributions from partners across the entire circular value chain, from plastic manufacturers to hospitals and waste processors, the podcast provides inspiring insights for staff, healthcare professionals, and a broader audience interested in circularity. The goal? Not just to discuss circularity in healthcare, but to make it tangible.
With the healthcare sector responsible for 8% of CO2 emissions and a massive waste output of 328 million kilos per year, sustainability is essential. What does circularity in healthcare really mean? We explore this in the series, starting with a conversation with Prof. Diederik Gommers from Erasmus MC on circularity in intensive care.
Each episode will be in Dutch with some interviews in English.
Kick-off WP4: Partnering with the supply chain to drive circular interventions in healthcare
8 October, 2024
8 October marked the kick-off of Work Package 4 (WP4) of the ESCH-R project at the Microlab in Rotterdam, led by project manager Erik van Raaij.
WP4 focuses on how hospitals can collaborate with their suppliers to co-create circular interventions. The team will identify key purchasing categories with the highest potential impact based on economic and environmental performance metrics. Additionally, viable business models and procurement strategies will be designed and evaluated to incentivize suppliers to develop and deliver circular solutions. The goal is to align suppliers, purchasers, and users around interventions that balance product effectiveness, environmental impact, cost, safety, and ease of use.
During the WP4 kick-off, participants also engaged in Socratic listening, a key element of the Socratic dialogue approach. This method emphasizes deep, reflective listening and questioning, encouraging critical thinking and understanding. It is an effective way to foster open communication and collaboration.
In our next newsletter, we will share more about the kick-off and the exciting developments ahead.
The first Project Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting
27 September, 2024
“How can hospitals move away from single use medical consumables and make the transition towards circularity?” 💚 Exciting Milestone for ESCH-R!
On Friday, September 27th, we held our first Project Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting at Erasmus MC. The PAC plays a crucial role in providing guidance and feedback to our ESCH-R research project, which focuses on circularity in healthcare. The committee includes an independent scientific advisor, as well as a representative from NWO.
Global healthcare delegates discover circular innovations while visiting the ESCH-R Living Lab at Erasmus MC
24 September, 2024
On September 24th, a diverse group of 40 international guests from all over the world participating in the Health Visitors Programme (organized by Task Force Health Care) visited the ESCH-R Living Lab at Erasmus MC to engage in a stimulating discussion on circularity in healthcare. The delegation included hospital directors, embassy officials, policy makers, and other healthcare leaders from around the world, all eager to learn about our groundbreaking efforts in this critical field.
Learning about sustainability from China
13 September, 2024
At the end of June, a working visit to Beijing on sustainable care was organised by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. The focus was on IC and OR. Esch-R coordinator dr. Nicole Hunfeld went along to explain her green IC project at Erasmus MC and the NVIC’s green IC committee. Niek Sperna Weiland (anaesthesiologist Amsterdam UMC and member of The green OR) joined from the green OR. This led to good discussions on what can be done in common and where to cooperate.
Interview with Nicole Hunfeld and Joke Boonstra:
Joke Boonstra: “This will help hospitals meet the Green Deal requirements”
9 October, 2024
Green teams often follow the same path to implement a green intervention. This can be done more efficiently, says board member Joke Boonstra. With a menu full of evidence-based interventions, implementation coaches, and regional learning networks, the Citrien Fund aims to give sustainable healthcare a boost.
ESCH-R PhD Jasper Klasen discusses the environmental impact of Morphine and Paracetamol in Erasmus MC’s YouTube Series ‘Geneesmiddel van de Week’
4 October, 2024
In two episodes of Erasmus MC’s YouTube series Geneesmiddel van de Week (Medicine of the Week), ESCH-R PhD Jasper Klasen explains the environmental impact of medications. He examines the lifecycle of morphine—from production to waste disposal—and highlights the current prescribing practices for paracetamol. Both medicine contribute to pollution and climate change, underscoring the need for more circular practices in healthcare.
Watch the episode about the lifecycle assessment of Morphine:
Watch the episode about the current prescribing practices for Paracetamol:
Ecorys launches podcast on Circular Economy
26 September, 2024
In episode one, (Circular) Healthcare takes centre stage and professor of sustainable procurement and Esch-r board member Erik van Raaij shares the topic of sustainability in healthcare. What role does sustainability play in hospitals’ procurement policies? Can this be more sustainable or should risk prevention remain paramount? And what do we do about the health consequences of climate change itself?
“Data indispensable for sustainable procurement policy”
26 September, 2024
A vanguard of healthcare professionals have initiated a movement towards sustainable care. Their examples deserve to be followed. But what does it take to accelerate? Seven players with a heart for sustainable care pondered that question at the Zorgvisie/Philips roundtable in Utrecht.
Interview with Erik van Raaij and others
24 September, 2024
A vanguard of healthcare professionals have initiated a movement towards sustainable care. Their examples deserve to be followed. But what does it take to accelerate? Seven players with a heart for sustainable care pondered that question at the Zorgvisie/Philips roundtable in Utrecht.
Report: Driving circularity in a multinational – lessons from Philips
Environmental sustainability in intensive care: the path forward. An ESICM Green Paper
Authors: Jan J. De Waele, Nicole Hunfeld, Heather Baid, Ricard Ferrer, Katerina Iliopoulou, Ana-Maria Ioan, Marc Leone, Marlies Ostermann, Gaetano Scaramuzzo, Maria Theodorakopoulou, Hugo Touw, Giuseppe Citerio, Lennie P. G. Derde, Katia Donadello, Nicole P. Juffermans, Laura Galarza, Giacomo Grasselli, Salvatore Maurizio Maggiore, Ignacio Martin-Loeches, Joel Alexandre, Maurizio Cecconi & Elie Azoulay
Purpose
The European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) Green Paper aims to address the challenge of environmental sustainability in intensive care and proposes actionable strategies for integrating sustainability into intensive care unit (ICU) stakeholder actions.
Methods
The ESICM Executive Committee appointed a task force of topic experts and ESICM committee representatives to develop the ESICM Green Paper. The task force convened biweekly from January to June 2024, identifying key domains for environmental sustainability and prioritizing actions. Drafts were iteratively refined and approved by the ESICM Executive Committee.
The carbon footprint of a Dutch academic hospital — using a hybrid assessment method to identify driving activities and departments
Authors: Ise Lau, A. Burdorf, Simone Hesseling, Louise Wijk, Martin Tauber, Nicole Hunfeld
The healthcare sector is responsible for 7% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the Netherlands. However, this is not well understood on an organizational level. This research aimed to assess the carbon footprint of the Erasmus University Medical Center to identify the driving activities and sources.
4-year PostDoc Operations Research
Do you have a strong interest in developing and applying Operations Research models to contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals? Are you passionate about steering and guiding the transition towards a circular society? Would you like to contribute to making a more sustainable healthcare system? If that is the case, an exciting job opportunity is waiting for you!
This is what you’re going to do
- The research is embedded within the Econometric Institute, Erasmus School of Economics, where you will be a member of the Operations Research subgroup. You will be co-supervised by dr. Wilco van den Heuvel and prof.dr. Albert Wagelmans.
- The development of Operations Research models to support the establishment of a novel design toolbox which embeds all crucial interventions and their trade-offs to aid a successful transition towards a circular hospital.
- To advise on how a transition towards circular hospitals could and should take place over time in a sustainable, safe and feasible manner.
- To iteratively develop, test and validate the Operations Research models, toolbox and transition pathways with stakeholders from Dutch hospitals and their supply chains.
- To publish the research findings, the toolbox and the transition pathway map in leading international academic journals and platforms, and communicate across disciplines, project partners and stakeholders.
- To participate in the supervision of MSc and BSc thesis research and other teaching activities related to the project.
Vacancy: PhD Design of circular concepts in eye surgery and kidney care
In this multidisciplinary project, you’ll develop concepts for hospitals to shift from single-use consumables to circular solutions, focusing on eye surgery and kidney care, in close collaboration with medical specialists and suppliers.
This is what you’re going to do
In this PhD-project, two clinical cases will be investigated with the objective of a structural reduction in waste and carbon footprint. All aspects of the relevant consumables, from LCA, design, production, usage, to disposal will be targeted. The two cases are eye surgery and kidney care.
Cataract surgery is the most common surgical procedure nationally and internationally, with approximately 180 000 procedures per year in the Netherlands. It is a highly standardized procedure, using similar instruments and techniques. Infection is the most feared complication and this risk has been a major driver for the increasing use of disposables. Together with experts from DORC, a world-leading company in eye surgery equipment, you will develop new circular concepts.
Kidney care, in particular dialysis, has a disproportionately high ecologic footprint within healthcare through greenhouse emissions, natural resources depletion and waste generation. Dialysis is 18 times more resource intensive than the general healthcare emissions burden of a typical patient. A typical haemodialysis session uses ~400L of tap water and ~20 kWh per patient and produces several kgs of waste. Thus, there is an urgent need to drastically lower the footprint of dialysis. You will work on the (co-)development of sustainable technological innovations for dialysis and the implementation of innovative green solutions into the new dialysis unit at UMC Utrecht.
We are keen to post a bio of everyone involved in this project on the website and in the newsletter as well!
Please share your bio and picture with maaike@esch-r.org.
Shalvi Thakur
Researcher ESCH-R Project Work Package 3
Who am I?
I am a PhD student at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Before this, I completed my Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s (EMJMD) in Economics during which I studied in Italy, Belgium, and Estonia, and completed my graduate internship at GlaksoSmithKline (GSK) Belgium.
I got my bachelor’s in economics at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Bhopal. My prior research/experience in health financing/economics, combined with my master’s thesis on climate finance influenced my decision to join this impactful project on circular healthcare.
What do I do?
I will be based in Erasmus School of Economics (Department of Applied Economics) as a PhD candidate. My goal, as part of work package 3, is to identify barriers and facilitators for behavioral change in hospitals for circular healthcare, and subsequently use those behavioral determinants to design and implement behavioral interventions in hospitals.
Beyond this?
Outside of my research, I love playing badminton, trying out new things, traveling, and music.
Start Communications Network
We were pleased to gather on Wednesday the 10th of July to kick off the Communications Network for the ESCH-R project.
During the meeting, we covered key points including; communication-activities, strategic communication plan, press, publications, owned channels: web / socials etc., webinars / podcasts, content package with content about the project / images / corporate style, the timeline, when to meet next and ESCH-R stories.
ESCH-R stories
During the project we are going to actively share stories/interviews with each other that focus on circular/sustainable hospitals and their progress.
We would like to invite all partners to appoint their communication advisor to join us in our efforts. Please contact maaike@esch-r.org.
Looking forward to our continued collaboration!
Inaugural speech Prof. dr. ir. Jan-Carel Diehl
Date: October 11, 2024
Time: 15:00
The inaugural address of prof. dr. ir. Jan-Carel Diehl, will delve into the intersection of design for healthcare accessibility and environmental sustainability. Through a systemic design lens, he will present examples of innovative medical device solutions developed in both high-resource and low-resource settings. These examples illustrate the potential of systemic design in the context of inclusive sustainable healthcare.
Following the inaugural address, a reception will be held to celebrate the appointment as a professor at Delft University of Technology and a Medical Delta Professor at Erasmus Medical Center.
You are more than welcome to join this celebration!
Gathering Circulariteit in de gezondheid- en zorgsector
Date: October 15, 2024
Time: 09.00 – 13.00
Location: Inntel Hotel Utrecht Centre, Smakkelaarshoek 24, 3511 EC Utrecht
On October 15th, KIA Circulaire Economie (Circular Economy) (KIA CE) and KIA Gezondheid en Zorg (Health and Care) (KIA GZ) are organizing joint roundtable discussions on disposable products and instruments. The goal is to gain a better understanding of the dynamics in various healthcare chains (e.g., disposables, instruments, equipment, and tools) and to develop or apply suitable public-private collaboration tools for these chains. During the session, input will be requested on the following aspects:
- Problem Definition: How circular is the healthcare system?
- Partners: Which parties are already active in circularity in the healthcare chains, and who else is needed?
- Impact: Where can we achieve the greatest impact, and what should our priorities be?
Programme
- 09.30 – Reception
- 10.00 – Welcome from KIA CE & KIA GZ
- 10.30 – Roundtable Discussions
- 12.00 – Wrap-up
- 12.15 – Networking Lunch
- 13.00 – Conclusion
Want to attend?
You can confirm your attendance by sending an e-mail to:
- navied.tavakolly@kia-ce.nl
- stavenuiter@health-holland.com
ESCH-R Annual Scientific Meeting
Date: January 31, 2025
Save the date! Location and agenda will follow.
Also called consortium meeting. This is organized by the early and mid-career researchers and the project board. During this day, the consortium will be updated, knowledge will be shared, and the researchers can show and discuss their data and findings. The consortium meeting is open to all consortium partners. During this day, the PAC will also have its meeting.
Using teams for data sharing within the WP’s
Most of you have started using Teams for their communication and data sharing within their WP. Please note, if you have any procurement docs they can be stored in a separate folder in Teams with limited access or save them within you own institute. Please let us know if you require a separate folder or have any other questions about using Teams.
If you have sensitive or confidential data, like for instance procurement documents, you can ask Jilske for limited access to a folder of your WP in Teams:
Jilske Huijben – j.a.huijben@erasmusmc.nl
Would you like to share your ESCH-R news? Whether it’s vacancies, new PhDs, student achievements, research updates, publications, tweets, media appearances, or anything else, we’d love to hear from you!
Deadline for newsletter submissions: 7 October 2024
Next newsletter: 14 October 2024
Share your updates with us via info@esch-r.org, and we’ll include them in our next newsletter!
ESCH-R
Email adress: info@esch-r.org
Email adress: ESCH-R@erasmusmc.nl
Website: www.esch-r.org
