Keywords: Health care research, sustainability

Background:

The primary goal of health care research is to investigate and improve individual and public health. This can feel contradictory in a time with climate and biodiversity crises where research also contributes to greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, and threatens public health. At the same time, there is an increasing social inequity in health, as well as, a significant gap in inclusion of minorities in research based on sex, ethnicity, and socio economic status.

Research questions:

The aim is to develop a guideline that includes the three pillars of sustainability (environment, societal and economics) throughout the research process.

Method:

We combined published rapports and guidelines on 1) Environmental sustainability: Research and Development (RAND) Europe on climate and environmental sustainability research in health care and National Institute for Health and care Research (NIHR) on research guidelines to reduce GHG emissions from research. 2) Social sustainability: NIHR-INCLUDE guidelines for improving inclusion of under-served groups in clinical research, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine rapport on improving representation in clinical trials and research: building research equity for women and underrepresented groups, and Time Needed to Treat (TNT) a tool to assess the clinicians time and prioritize personal resources. 3) Economic and governance sustainability: Lancet Reduce research waste and reward diligence (REWARD) campaign.

Results:

We included in total 26 recommendations to consider for sustainable health care research. There are nine recommendations for reducing environmental and climate impact of research. There are seven recommendations for better societal inclusion, supporting equity and equality, and including TNT. There are ten recommendations for reducing economic and governance waste regarding research.

Conclusions:

Sustainability process is dynamic and continuous. This is the first step in the process for researcher to use sustainability in all the research processes', from preparing the thesis, conducting research, reporting and including the significance of future implementation of the results.

Points for discussion:

Sustainable research, is it possible?