Articles: health.
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Technology is increasingly shaping human life, particularly in healthcare, where recent advancements have revolutionized patient care. Despite these advances, the World Health Organization's (WHO) definition of health remains rooted in traditional notions, raising questions about its adequacy in light of technological progress. This paper explores the conceptual and practical limitations of the current definition and argues for its revision to encompass the role of technology in health. ⋯ Given technology's transformative role in healthcare, this paper argues for a revaluation of the WHO's definition of health to encapsulate the evolving relationship between technology and human well-being. At the end, we propose a new definition recognizing that health is a dynamic state of physical, mental, social, and technological well-being, wherein individuals can achieve optimal quality of life through the harmonious integration of biological, psychological, and technological factors. This state encompasses not only the absence of disease but also the effective utilization of advanced technologies.
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The Australian health care system contributes 7% of the national greenhouse gas emission footprint and generates massive waste streams annually. Operating rooms are a particular hotspot, generating at least 20% of the total hospital waste. A systematic search of several global academic databases was conducted in mid-2022 (articles from 1992 to 2022) for peer-reviewed research relevant to waste management in the operating rooms. ⋯ The third barrier was the immediate cost of implementing waste management compared with the long term realisation of environmental and economic benefits. The last barrier to implementing institutional practice change was the lack of policies and regulations at the local hospital, federal and international levels. We also evaluated the knowledge gaps in current surgical waste research, including lack of benchmarking data and standardised regulations concerning reusable or reprocessed devices, as well as the methods used to promote pro-sustainability behavioural change.