Making Sustainability Part of Everyday Quality Improvement
Session description
As the health impacts of climate change intensify and care systems recognize their own significant environmental footprint, environmental sustainability is becoming an urgent priority and an essential component of high-quality care. Many QI teams are interested in integrating sustainability into their work but may not know where to start, what to measure, or how to share beyond local projects.
Join us for this session to learn about the Sustainability-Embedded Quality Improvement (SE-QI) Toolkit and Spotlight — practical resources created and validated in Canada to help make sustainability part of everyday quality improvement. Co-developed by Vancouver Coastal Health, Interior Health, Health Quality BC, and CASCADES, the SE-QI Toolkit supports teams in identifying environmental sustainability opportunities, impacts, and measures within QI initiatives, while the SE-QI Spotlight showcases real-world examples from across Canada to support peer learning, spread, and adoption.
In this session, participants will learn:
- How the SE-QI Toolkit can help teams identify sustainability opportunities within existing QI projects, whether sustainability is the primary aim or a co-benefit.
- How to identify, measure, and report environmental impacts and co-benefits alongside quality outcomes.
- How the SE-QI Spotlight can support learning from real-world examples and help spread practical approaches across organizations.
Whether participants are healthcare leaders, quality improvement professionals, clinicians, educators, or sustainability partners, this session will provide practical insights and tools to help translate interest into action and make sustainability part of everyday quality improvement.
Guest Speakers
Arianna Cruz, Director of Special Projects, Sustainable Clinic Services, Vancouver Coastal Health
Arianna Cruz is the Director of Special Projects with the Sustainable Clinical Services team at Vancouver Coastal Health. Over the past eight years, she has led strategic and transformational initiatives focused on value-based health care, quality improvement, and environmental sustainability. She is a co-developer of the Sustainability-Embedded Quality Improvement (SE-QI) Framework, Toolkit, and Spotlights, which helps teams and leaders embed environmental sustainability into their quality improvement efforts.
Arianna is an industrial engineer and executive coach and holds an MA in Environment, Development, and Peace from the United Nations University for Peace, as well as an MBA from the University of British Columbia.
Andrea Wnuk, Leader, Clinical Improvement, Health Quality BC
Andrea joined Health Quality BC in January 2021 as a Leader with the Clinical Improvement team.
Andrea started her career in health care as a Respiratory Therapist at Vancouver General Hospital and moved into various roles within Professional Practice both in Respiratory Therapy, and most recently, supporting allied health professionals across Vancouver Coastal Health. She values collaboration and teamwork and has witnessed firsthand the impact to improving healthcare when working collaboratively across teams.
Andrea holds a Master of Health Administration from the University of British Columbia and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Western Ontario. She is a graduate of HQBC’s Quality Academy.