Research

Current research

Some current projects being undertaken by our research group include:

• Forbes McGain et al.  Healthcare Environmental Sustainability: Creating the Evidence to Drive Adoption of High-Value Initiatives in Australian Hospitals
• Sonia Chanchlani: Improving Environmental Sustainability across the NT Health System
• Hayden Burch, Eugenie Kayak, Forbes McGain et al. How much N₂O is purchased by Australia's public hospitals?
• Jess Davies: Translating healthcare environmental sustainability research.
• Forbes McGain, Scott McAlister et al. The carbon footprint of a total knee replacement (surgery/anaesthesia/engineering).
• Forbes McGain et al. Using an electronic medical record to reduce ICU clotting profiles.
• Forbes McGain et al.  The new University of Melbourne Australian Healthcare Carbon Lab (AHCL) will facilitate life cycle assessment research and organisational carbon footprinting to inform low carbon treatment pathways.

Selected publications

Leadership in healthcare environmental sustainability:

• Ramsden, V., Babl, F. E., Haskell, L., Wilson, C., McInnes, E., Middleton, S., Kuhn, L., Wallace, A., Bourke, E., Jordan, F., Wong, J., Steinmann, K., Shumack, L., Kane, L., Phillips, N., Marsh, P., Jani, S., Kuang, T., Janiszewski, Y., Oakley, E., … Tavender, E. (2025). Understanding factors influencing sustainability and sustainment of evidence-based bronchiolitis management of infants in Australian and New Zealand hospital settings: a qualitative process evaluation. BMJ quality & safety, bmjqs-2025-019007. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2025-019007
• Yousif, F., Bourke, E.M. De-implementing low-value care in emergency medicine: A framework for sustainable improvement. Emerg Med Australas. 2025 Feb;37(1):e14535. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1742-6723.14535.
• Sustainability in Healthcare: Reflections from Advocacy Leaders, AMA Vic DOC Magazine, Dec 2023.
• Dunne, B., Forrester, M. and Kayak, E. (2023), It's time for Australian hospitals to be all-electric (and powered by 100% renewable energy). Med J Aust, 219: 559-559. https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.52159
• Davies JF, McGain F. Comment on: Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries.m Br J Surg. 2023 Jul 17;110(8):1019
• Davies, J. F., Seglenieks, R., Cameron, R., Kuruvilla, N. A., Grove, E. M., Shrivathsa, A., & Grobler, S. (2023). Operation clean up: A model for eco-leadership and sustainability implementation. Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, 51(2), 88-95. https://doi.org/10.1177/0310057x221102469
• Davies, J. F., Trajceska, L., & Weinberg, L. (2023). The financial and environmental impact of purchased anaesthetic agents in an Australian tertiary hospital. Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, 51(2), 141-148. https://doi.org/10.1177/0310057x221129291
• Davies JF, McGain F, Francis JJ.Consensus on Prioritisation of Actions for Reducing the Environmental Impact of a Large Tertiary Hospital: Application of the Nominal Group Technique. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Feb 23;20(5):3978 
• Braitberg G, Climate change can be seen through a disaster medicine lens. Med J Aust. 2022. https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.51730
• Wong A, Gynther A, Li C, Rounds M, Lee JH, Krieser D, Posma E, McGain F. Quantitative nitrous oxide usage by different specialties and current patterns of use in a single hospital, British Journal of Anaesthesia, Volume 129, Issue 3, 2022, Pages e59-e60, ISSN 0007-0912, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bja.2022.05.022.
• Burch H, Anstey MH, McGain F. Renewable energy use in Australian public hospitals. Medical Journal of Australia. 2021;215(4):160. doi:10.5694/mja2.51197
• Barratt AL, Bell KJ, Charlesworth K, McGain F. High value health care is low carbon health care. Med J Aust. 2022;216(2). Accessed February 7, 2022. https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2022/216/2/high-value-health-care-low-carbon-health-care
• Burch H, McGain F. Victorian public healthcare Chief Executive Officers’ views on renewable energy supply. Australian Health Review. 2021;45:7-11. doi: doi.org/10.1071/AH20248
• Kayak E, Burch H. Australian health sector leadership and roadmap for healthcare decarbonisation to net zero emissions. The Journal of Climate Change and Health. 2021;4:100081. doi:10.1016/j.joclim.2021.100081
• McGain F, Kayak E, Burch H. A sustainable future in health: ensuring as health professionals our own house is in order and leading by example. Medical Journal of Australia. 2020;213(8):381-381.e1. doi:10.5694/mja2.50787
• Wilson S, Rixon A, Hartanto S, White P, Judkins S. Review article: Systematic literature review of leadership in emergency departments. Emergency Medicine Australasia. 2020;32(6):935-952. doi:10.1111/1742-6723.13658
• McGain F, Ma SC, Burrell RH, et al. Why be sustainable? The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists Professional Document PS64: Statement on Environmental Sustainability in Anaesthesia and Pain Medicine Practice and its accompanying background paper. Anaesth Intensive Care. 2019;47(5):413-422. doi:10.1177/0310057X19884075
• McGain F, Story D, Kayak E, Kashima Y, McAlister S. Workplace Sustainability: The “Cradle to Grave” View of What We Do. Anesthesia & Analgesia. 2012;114(5):1134-1139. doi:10.1213/ANE.0b013e31824ddfef

Carbon Footprint of Healthcare and Life-cycle Assessment Studies:

• McAlister S, McGain F, Breth-Petersen M, et al. The carbon footprint of hospital diagnostic imaging in Australia. The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific. 2022;24. doi:10.1016/j.lanwpc.2022.100459
• McGain F, Sheridan N, Wickramarachchi K, Yates S, Chan B, McAlister S. Carbon Footprint of General, Regional, and Combined Anesthesia for Total Knee Replacements. Anesthesiology. Published online September 16, 2021:10.1097/ALN.0000000000003967
• McAlister S, Barratt AL, Bell KJ, McGain F. The carbon footprint of pathology testing. Medical Journal of Australia. 2020;212(8):377-382. doi:10.5694/mja2.50583
• Malik A, Lenzen M, McAlister S, McGain F. The carbon footprint of Australian health care. The Lancet Planetary Health. 2018;2(1):e2-e3. doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(17)30180-8
• McGain F, Story D, Lim T, McAlister S. Financial and environmental costs of reusable and single-use anaesthetic equipment. British Journal of Anaesthesia. 2017;118(6):862-869. doi:10.1093/bja/aex098
• McAlister S, Ou Y, Neff E, et al. The Environmental footprint of morphine: a life cycle assessment from opium poppy farming to the packaged drug. BMJ Open. 2016;6(10):e013302. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013302
• McGain F, Moore G, Black J. Hospital steam sterilizer usage: could we switch off to save electricity and water? Journal of Health Services Research & Policy. 2016;21(3):166-171.
• F McGain, S McAlister, A McGavin, DA Story. The financial and environmental costs of reusable and single-use plastic anaesthetic drug trays. Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Journal. 2010;38(3):538-544.

Teaching and Learning in Sustainable Healthcare

• Cunanan B1, Muppa H, Orellana L,  Bates S, McGain F. Blood gas sampling in the intensive care unit: A prospective before-and-after interventional study on the effect of an educational program on blood gas testing frequency. Aust Crit Care 2024 Apr 4:S1036-7314(24)00025-0.
• Chanchlani, S., Martin, K., & Dunne, B. (2024). Environmental sustainability in simulation education in healthcare. International Journal of Healthcare Simulation. https://doi.org/10.54531/mqqv2910
• Pendrey, C.G., Chanchlani, S., Beaton, L.J and Madden, D.L. (2023), Planetary health: a new standard for medical education. Med J Aust, 219: 512-515.https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.52158
• Burch, H., Beaton, L. J., Simpson, G., Watson, B., Maxwell, J., & Winkel, K. D. (2022). A planetary health–organ system map to integrate climate change and health content into medical curricula. Medical Journal of Australia, 217(9), 469-473. https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.51737