Sustainability in Quality Improvement
Victoria's first beacon site for environmentally sustainable healthcare.
The University of Melbourne is an established SusQI beacon site and member of the SusQI Academy as recognised by the Centre of Sustainable Health Care (CSH). The SusQI Program is accredited by the Centre for Sustainable Health Care in Oxford, United Kingdom, a world leading centre for sustainable healthcare research and practice.
As a beacon site, The University of Melbourne has been recognised as an organisation that has integrated environmental sustainability into the way we educate and train our students and health professionals in quality improvement.
Quality Improvement is an essential aspect to continually advance the quality and safety of care provided to patients. The Sustainable Quality Improvement Program (SusQI), developed by CSH, aims to embed environmental sustainability principles and techniques into established quality improvement and clinical practice.
Enterprise Professor of Sustainable Healthcare Eugenie Kayak, Dr Sonia Chanchlani, Dr Ben Dunne and Lindsay Scudder are developing an interprofessional SusQI workshop with the aim to train health professionals, practitioners and students to implement SusQI projects to reduce the environmental impact of healthcare. This training is also delivered as part of the Sustainability and Healthcare subject in the Graduate Certificate of Climate and Health and is a key component of the support and training provided to participants in the UoM Health Service Environmental Sustainability Competition.
The University of Melbourne is committed to supporting students and staff in taking concrete action to achieve environmental sustainability as recognised in the UoM Sustainability Plan.
"Action-focused education is key to enabling the clinical workforce to understand, manage and mitigate the health effects of climate change and to apply the principles of environmentally sustainable healthcare to build the skills necessary for system transformation at the speed and scale required," says Dr Sonia Chanchlani.
Recent News
Empowering Healthcare Staff to Drive Sustainability: University of Melbourne launches Sustainability in Quality Improvement Workshops
The workshop last year was an overwhelming success. Attendees reported increased understanding of sustainability in quality improvement and felt empowered to develop and execute projects within their organisations. Impressively, 100% of participants said they would recommend the workshop to a colleague.
To meet the growing demand, the University of Melbourne plans to deliver additional SusQI workshops in 2025. These sessions will further expand partnerships, including with Safer Care Victoria, and amplify the impact of sustainability initiatives across the healthcare sector.
To read more about the impact of SusQI.
Partnering with Safer Care Victoria for the Sustainable and Quality Use of Diagnostics in Emergency Departments Project
Our Sustainable Healthcare team held their first interprofessional SusQI workshop in October, 2024. The sold-out half day in-person event brought together 50 healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, allied health staff, and sustainability officers. It equipped participants with the skills to design, implement, and calculate carbon emissions for quality improvement projects in their health settings with an environmental sustainability lens. All participants reported they would recommend the workshop to a colleague.
Environmental Sustainability in Quality Improvement for Healthcare Workshop
This workshop is designed for clinical and non-clinical staff interested in environmentally, socially and financially sustainable healthcare.
Using the Sustainability in Quality Improvement (SusQI) approach, quality is introduced as
a tool to create more environmentally and socially sustainable healthcare services.
Participants will learn about the link between health, healthcare and the environment and ways to implement change in workplace practices.
All participants will be supported to develop a workplace project plan and calculate associated carbon emissions.
The program is led by academics and health professionals with extensive experience in implementing sustainable healthcare initiatives in health services.
Registration includes morning tea, pre-reading, a 4-hour face-to-face workshop and an optional online mentoring session.
If you are interested in participating in future SuSQI or Carbon Footprinting workshops, please fill out this form.
Contact Lindsay Scudder - lindsay.scudder@unimelb.edu.au for more information.