| dc.description.abstract | The Covid-19 pandemic has put a lot of pressure on the healthcare sector. In addition, the pandemic shed light on the enormous amount of waste production caused by the single-use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in hospitals. PPE is equipment that is used to prevent or minimize the healthcare worker and patient exposure to hazards and includes gloves, face masks, goggles, face shields and gowns. The extensive use of disposable PPE has led to a worldwide production of 8 million tons of plastic waste, with more than 25.000 tons ending up in the oceans. The transition from these disposable PPE to the use of circular alternatives would save tons of plastic waste production and significantly reduce the environmental impact. This transition would contribute to the circular mission of the Green Deal Duurzame Zorg 2.0 in the Netherlands. The mission-oriented innovation system (MIS) approach is an adequate approach to analyse the innovation system related to this mission, as this approach enables the analysis of the development and diffusion of multiple circular PPE innovations.
The MIS approach has been used to answer the following research question: “What are the barriers for a transition from disposable personal protective equipment towards circular alternatives in Dutch academic hospitals”. In addition, the research will provide policy recommendations to overcome the identified barriers to the transition. The research question is examined according to five analytical steps of the MIS approach: problem-solution diagnosis, structural analysis, functional system analysis, systemic barrier analysis, and the identification of systemic instruments. These analytical steps allow the mapping of the circular PPE alternatives, the network of stakeholders and institutions, system strengths, system barriers and useful policy instruments.
The problem-solution diagnosis showed that there already are circular PPE alternatives available in the market. However, the alternatives are not yet implemented on a large scale in the Dutch academic hospitals. Based on the data analysis, four systemic barriers were identified. These include the strict infection prevention guidelines within hospitals, the lack of knowledge proving the environmental advantage of the circular PPE alternatives, the lack of stimulating financial institutions and regulations that incentivise the development and adoption of the circular PPE alternatives, and a lock-in of healthcare workers to using disposables. Currently, there are little to no governance actions and policy instruments in place in the Netherlands that effectively stimulate the transition to circular PPE alternatives within Dutch academic hospitals. In the final step of the MIS, several policy instruments and specific intervention strategies are presented to overcome the identified systemic barriers. The most important policy instruments include the provision of government funding for hospitals to cover the extra costs of the transition towards circular PPE alternatives and financially stimulating PPE manufacturers to develop these alternatives through pricing, standardising and subsidising. By implementing the recommended policy instruments and intervention strategies the circular PPE alternatives are able to develop and diffuse more efficiently which contributes to the circular mission of the Green Deal Duurzame Zorg 2.0. | |
