Anesthesia environmental sustainability programs—a survey of Canadian department chiefs and residency program directors

Introduction Anesthesia-related activities contribute to operating room waste impacting climate change. The aim of this study was to ascertain 1) the current existence and scope of department and education programs concerned with anesthesia “green” practice; and 2) perceived barriers to environmental sustainability efforts among Canadian anesthesia department chiefs and residency program directors. Methods Association of Canadian University Departments of Anesthesia-affiliated anesthesiology department chiefs ( n = 113) were invited to complete an online survey ascertaining current efforts in, and barriers to, environmentally sustainable anesthesia practice. Similarly, Canadian anesthesiology residency program directors ( n = 17) were invited to complete an online survey delineating current educational programs on environmental sustainability and identifying interest in, and barriers to, developing a Canada-wide curriculum. Results The response rates for department chiefs and program directors were 23% (26/113) and 41% (7/17), respectively. Department chiefs indicated that their departments participate in sustainability efforts such as donating medical equipment (65%) and recycling (58%). Despite interest in environmental sustainability, department chiefs identified inadequate funding (72%), lack of a mandate (64%), and inadequate knowledge (60%) as barriers to implementing environmentally sustainable practices. Only 29% of responding Canadian anesthesiology programs include environmental sustainability in their curriculum. Responding residency program directors believe residents would benefit from more teaching on the topic (86%) but identified barriers including a lack of faculty expertise (100%) and time constraints (71%). Respondents (71%) also indicated an interest in developing a Canadian curriculum on the topic. Conclusion Our results highlight current attitudes, gaps, and barriers to environmentally sustainable anesthesiology practice among departmental and educational leadership. Furthermore, this study identifies potential opportunities to develop cross-Canada collaborative educational programs in this field.