Sustainable Healthcare Practices: Advancing Eco-Friendly Laboratory Management, Integrating Green Initiatives in Nursing Education, and Promoting Value-Based Approaches in General Medicine

Background: The healthcare sector is a significant contributor to environmental damage, with 4.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions from healthcare and large quantities of waste such as single-use plastics and biohazardous waste. As the effects of climate change accelerate, health care systems need to implement sustainable health practices that use the least harmful and minimally damaging methods and still provide care for health and well-being. Aim: This review analyzed eco-friendly lab management, green initiatives in nursing education, and value-based general medicine to develop pathways to sustainable health practices in health care. Methods: A systematic review of the literature was completed using PubMed, Google Scholar, and CINAHL Ultimate. Inclusion criteria limited review to studies published within the past decade, from 2015-2025, and all peer-reviewed studies. Search terms included “sustainable health care”, “Eco-friendly lab management”, “nursing education green initiatives”, and “value-based medicine”. Results: Eco-friendly lab management modeled sustainability by reducing energy use by 20-30% and reducing waste by 20-40% using energy-efficient technologies and sustainable procurement. Nursing education modeled sustainability practices, introducing innovation to increase sustainability consciousness up to 35%, and trained nurses were 40% more likely to incorporate the newly introduced green practices into their nursing interventions. Models of value-based care, including telehealth and green-prescribing, improved sustainability and reduced emissions by 7-12%. Conclusions: Interdisciplinary collaboration, policy support, and education/processes are required to promote scalable practices for sustainable healthcare. Future research needs to work. Specifically, the research we need to conduct should focus on creating cost-effective technologies and emphasizing cross-culturally applicable technologies. Keywords: eco-friendly laboratories, sustainable healthcare, value-based care, nursing education, environmental sustainability.