Dr. Varun Dixit
HCA Virginia anesthesiologist wins statewide Governor's award for sustainability initiatives
Dr. Varun Dixit won the 2023 Governor's Environmental Excellence Gold Medal Award in Sustainability
Dr. Varun Dixit is an HCA Virginia cardiac anesthesiologist who launched an environmental sustainability program at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital. His ideas were not only innovative within a hospital setting, but also scalable. His is actively working to expand his ideas to other HCA Healthcare facilities.
His initiatives earned him a gold medal in the 2023 Virginia Governor's Environmental Excellence Awards. These awards recognize successful and innovative efforts across all industries that improve Virginia’s environment. Dixit’s two-pronged approach reduces the negative impact of healthcare on the environment by recycling to decrease facility waste, and implementing low-flow anesthesia techniques to reduce excess anesthesia gas emissions.
Combating climate change and preserving the planet for future generations is more than a hobby for Dixit.
“For me, it’s not about passion – it’s about urgency,” he said. “We are running out of time. I do this because it’s the right thing to do.”
When he joined Henrico Doctors’ Hospital in 2017, he said there was no recycling program in place. He soon embarked on a robust environmental education program in the hospital, engaging operating room staff, environmental services, and hospital administrators about the need to recycle the facility’s waste and promote sustainability in healthcare. After receiving approval to pilot a new recycling project in the cardiac ORs, he quickly expanded the program to encompass all of the hospital’s ORs, as well as the cardiac catheterization lab, endoscopy, and obstetrics. Henrico Doctors’ Hospital now recycles more than 150,000 pounds of waste every year, equivalent to approximately 6% of the facility’s total waste. With ongoing education and broad participation, the entire operating room staff has become champions of recycling, taking pride in the results achieved and carrying the message into their homes and community.
Leveraging the success and widespread acceptance of the recycling program, Dixit then started working to adopt low-flow anesthesia techniques, which are better for both patients and the planet. These changes reduce excess anesthesia gas emissions, which are known to be significant contributors to ozone depletion and the “greenhouse gas” effect.
“I am most proud of how I was able to bring everyone together,” he said. “I think that’s the biggest thing … all of the OR stuff, circulating nurses, scrub techs, and all of the CRNAs. All of them came along and did a nice job to make a difference. When people do things when no one is looking … that is the most incredible achievement.”