Green Medicine
What Clinicians Can do to Reduce the Environmental Impacts of Medications
- Do not prescribe more medication than can be used.
- Prescribe smaller quantities such as starter packs and refill packs so there is not so much throwaway waste.
- Review and regularly reassess the patient’s total consumption of medication.
- Consider environmental impacts when prescribing medications.
- Learn about which drugs have large environmental impacts.
- Educate consumers about the importance of proper disposal of pharmaceutical waste.
- Start a medication take-back program.(For an explanation, please read "Greener Pharmacy: Proper Medicine Disposal Protects the Environment")
Welcome to IMCJ’s Green Medicine Page. We at the journal are wanting to do our part to keep our world healthy and renewed.
What, you may ask, is green medicine? This term describes practices that facilitate a sustainable future for medicine, physicians, patients, and the environment. Practically speaking, green healthcare has 3 components:
1) working in a healthy facility (or green clinic),
2) advocating for a healthy environment, and
3) practicing medicine in a sustainable manner.
But how does one go about incorporating the principles of green medicine into a busy healthcare practice? The guidelines offered in the articles below are intended to help you take the proper steps.
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- Energy and the Costs of Health Care
- Cell Phones and Electromagnetic Radiation: What We Do Not Know
- Is Your Office Making You Sick?
- Preventive Medicine: Taking an Environmental History
- Preparing Patients for Proper Sun Exposure
- Bacterial Resistance and Antibiotic Overuse
- Green Medicine Tips Call to Action: Drugs in Our Water
- Pediatric Environmental Health
- Greener Pharmacy: Proper Medicine Disposal Protects the Environment
- Green Medicine Offers an Integral Approach That Benefits Physicians, Patients, Communities, and the Environment
- Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
- Environmental Health Advocacy
- Workplace Stress and Health: Creating a Supportive Work Environment