Akron (Ohio) Children’s Hospital reduced waste anesthesia gas emissions by nearly 500 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents in 2025 through a multi-year effort to improve sustainability in its anesthesiology department.
The initiative began by leveraging data from the hospital’s Epic EHR system to measure provider-level gas usage and identify opportunities to reduce environmental impact. A key intervention included a low-flow anesthesia reminder integrated into the EHR, which led to a 5% reduction in nitrous oxide use shortly after implementation, according to a March 10 news release.
Over four years, the team cut total fresh gas flows by 50% and nitrous oxide use by more than 85%, even as total anesthesia minutes increased by 20%. The hospital attributes its results to data transparency, provider education and real-time analytics to drive sustained change in clinical practice.
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