Greening Healthcare

Blog #25

• Were there ways in which to "green" your healthcare setting that you had not perviously considered? Is there a green team or equivalent in your work setting? Who makes purchasing decisions?
• Currently we have a Blue Bin System; instead of having a plethora of products to chose from and bringing tons of supplies into patient rooms, we have a supply room that has Blue Bins in metal racks. We have two sets, the first is a set that we pull from and then a full one behind it. When we pull the bin from behind it signals our team to order new and replace the one we have used. We do have a dedicated team that is responsible for this, but nursing and NA staff will call when supplies are running low on our second bin.

• After completing the survey, I was surprised that I didn't know so much about our hospital, especially where our trash goes. The survey has helped me to identify deficits; the website was also interesting to research. I love that nurses have these working groups that are working on meaningful national efforts. I will plan on asking my hospital what we do to be "green," who these members are and what I can do to help.

In the News:

I found an article that mentioned how to dispose of medical waste, we do have a program that recycles some OSM monitoring and surgical tools.  California has prohibited the incineration of medical waste, but states are still allowing this. Just as in the article we auto-clave some of our equipment. Using the closed chamber system, pressure and heat are applied to sterilize medical equipment. It destroys microorganisms and allows them to be re-used, this eliminates extra waste in our landfills.