Environmental Impacts of Blockchain for Patient Consent

This study aims to assess the environmental impact of an innovative solution utilizing blockchain technology in healthcare, specifically for managing patient consent. Blockchain technology seeks to reduce costs and enhance the quality of care. However, despite being virtual technologies, digital technologies, particularly blockchain, rely on physical infrastructures that produce significant environmental impacts and consume high levels of energy during production, use, and end of life. The environmental impacts of these technologies have been subject to significant scrutiny. A comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was conducted between two solutions for managing patient consents in clinical trials. The results indicate that the proposed blockchain solution reduces its environmental impact by an average of 44% compared to the current paper-based solution, while preserving equivalent functionality.