United Nations SDGs (sustainable development goals) have prompted health-care organisations in and around this world to implement health care initiatives that aim to improve their long-term sustainability. Analysis of 637 documents from the Scopus database was retrieved using bibliometric methods for the existing study. Research on health care sustainability has been documented over almost the past 12 years (2010-November, 2022) in this review. Results have indicated that the intellectual structure of this knowledge body comprises of five clusters. First, the authors saw that this review database had 22 writers listed as authors. This indicates that a high number of academicians are interested in this topic. But at the same time, it is also evident that majority of contributors produce only few publications on health care sustainability.
Top1. Introduction
United Nations SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) have prompted health-care organisations in and around this world to implement health care initiatives that aim to improve their long-term sustainability. Analysis of 637 documents from the Scopus database was retrieved using bibliometric methods for the existing study. Research on health care sustainability has been documented almost over the past 12 years (2010-November, 2022) in this review. Results have indicated that, the intellectual structure of this knowledge body comprises of 5 clusters. First, we saw that our review database had 22 writers listed as authors. This indicates that a high number of academicians are interested in this topic. But at the same time, it is also evident that majority of contributors produce only few publications on health care sustainability. According to the statistics Buffoli M., Capolongo S. and Gola M. (136 Scopus citations), Torkayesh A.E. (113 Scopus citations), Di Noia M. (104 Scopus citations), Vagnoni E. (80 Scopus citations), and Cavicchi C. (74 Scopus citations) are the most influential researchers in the literature of health care sustainability. Recent themes in the field of health care sustainability show up in the density map. These themes shown up in study on health care sustainability depicts (1) health delivery policy for long-term development that takes into account the economic results (2) Organizations are managed by people who improve quality and lead them. It is important to have both “soft skills (leadership and changes) and hard skills (quality improvement systems)” in order to manage for sustainability in health care system. The most important aspect to take away from this review is that future studies need to take into account both social and environmental factors.
The “well-being” and “quality of life” of a country’s natives is defined by health status of its population (Wan, 2007; Ruggeri K et al., 2020). As a result, citizens from all over the world called for higher levels of sustainable health care from their governments (Greenhalgh et al., 2012; Kumar and Preetha, 2012). It has become increasingly difficult to manage health care due to ongoing rise in costs and increase in awareness for issues in terms of health and wellness. Organizations in the healthcare industry have working to improve patient safety and care while stream line the process and making health services more accessible(Ament et al., 2012; Goh and Marimuthu, 2016).
Many academics, policymakers, and health care practitioners have been inspired by the publication of United Nations’ MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) (Ramirez, West and Costell, 2013). Health care facilities can be built and operated according to the “Green Guide for Health Care’s” guidelines as well as the way services are delivered. More impetus provided for sustainable health care with UN announcement in 2015 towards the attainment of sustainable Development Goals at global level (Punnakitikashem and Hallinger, 2020). Increased access to food and nutrition is a goal of SDG 1. Increased access to food and nutrition is a goal of SDG3. SDG 6 is the access to clean drinking water and hygiene to the people worldwide. SDG11 is to become more inclusive, robust, long lasting, and secure in terms of human settlements. These SDGs intended to achieve by the members by 2030 (Johnston, 2016).
In healthcare research, the “sustainability” is relatively new, but it is quickly emerging as a key topic (Ament et al., 2012). To achieve the sustainable development goals, “communities and institutions” will be heavily reliant on the adoption of new and more “sustainable” methods of managing health care services, organisations, and systems. There are those who believe that shifting health care organisations to focus on the “triple bottom line” of “social, environmental, and economic” results will lead to a more sustainable system (Ramirez, Oetjen and Malvey, 2011; Ramirez, West and Costell, 2013). In this study evaluation, the terms “health care sustainability” and “sustainable healthcare” are used interchangeably (Greenhalgh et al., 2004; Scheirer, 2005; Gruen et al., 2008). Until recently, there were only a few systematic reviews published on relevant fields of health care research and long-term sustainability.