Sustainable practices in healthcare supply chains: a review of strategies, challenges, and impacts

Abstract

This study aims to examine sustainability practices in healthcare supply chains by identifying drivers, key practices, barriers, and their outcomes. Based on comprehensive literature review of 78 articles (1996–2023), grounded in institutional theory and the Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework, this study developed Dynamic Sustainability in Healthcare Supply Chains (DSHSC) Model to understand and help the sustainability implementation in health care. The model identifies four sustainability drivers-regulatory (coercive), competitive (mimetic), professional standards (normative), and technological pressures-and categorises sustainable practices into procurement, internal operations, and reverse logistics, while major barriers, including technological (IT infrastructure), organisational (professional hierarchies), and environmental (regulatory complexity) challenges, underscore that successful implementation of sustainability programmes can yield social (better working conditions), economic (cost savings), and environmental (reduced waste) benefits. This study uniquely contributes to the field by presenting a framework that clarifies the complex interactions between sustainability drivers, practices, barriers, and outcomes, offering insights for flexible, collaborative policy.

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