When will hospitals "go green"?

[itsmycalling]

I ask this question simply out of my own curiousity- not because I am familiar with any agencies involved in such an undertaking. There is so much waste it is absolutely disgusting. I try very hard to be conscientious when I am in the hospital, but I think it would be easier if there were some guidelines within the agency. Does anyone know of places that are working on being more eco-friendly? What role should nurses play in implementing such programs? Looking forward to some input!

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

I agree, hospitals are extremely wasteful, along with the rest of our society. I feel like any individual effort on my part is like spitting in the ocean. The whole system is based on wasteful practises predicated on an abundance of resources and infinate landfill capacity.

[littlepeach]

Good Luck! I had to go through an act of congress just to get aluminum can recycle bins in the cafeteria. I was told that going green "costs too much".

[psalm, RN]

I work the night shift and we do the blood draws from piccs and ports as well as mucho PRN ivps. I tried to save all my "stuff" from one night in a box and the box was full and thrown out by someone trying to help...oh well. We all agree we need to at least attempt something to show management what we are tossing when we could be recycling.

[nyapa, RN]

Its all about 'saving money'. In the long term of course it will cost the community money. It shocks me that we throw out disposable metal scissors and forceps, and everything else has gone plastic because it 'is too expensive to sterilize them'. I really have no idea on how to solve the problem, short of making the public aware through the media what is actually happening. The short falls of that is obvious though....

[psalm, RN]

Its all about 'saving money'. In the long term of course it will cost the community money. It shocks me that we throw out disposable metal scissors and forceps, and everything else has gone plastic because it 'is too expensive to sterilize them'. I really have no idea on how to solve the problem, short of making the public aware through the media what is actually happening. The short falls of that is obvious though....

Does anyone know of a hospital that has done it with volunteers? If there has been an attempt we can point to we may have a better chance of getting something started.

[nyapa, RN]

Unsure what you mean there. How does one use instruments without them being sterile? They can't be 'boycotted'. I suppose we could hand out leaflets etc. but that could be seen as being disloyal to our employers.

[Chaya, ASN, RN]

This has bothered me a lot too. Unfortunately, with MRSA, C Diff etc rampant I can't see how we can avoid single-use disposables in almost all area of patient care.

And it isn't like we're all that much water, either by not autoclaving. We do use waterless hand cleaners and that helps a lot. But the accepted way to wash hands is to let the water run the whole time you are washing and drying so you can use a paper towel to turn off the faucet. I felt so bad doing that last summer when we had a water shortage in town and we could only water our vegetable garden every other evening!

[birdgardner]

A local hospital only recently gave up cloth diapers and is talking about going back.

My personal experience with being green and using cloth diapers is - they leak. You end up not doing just a diaper change, but a clothing and bedding change. How green is that?

My take on bed baths - using wash cloths and a basin is a chilly, drippy experience. Those microwaveable disposable washcloths in the stay-warm pack - I love them.

Recycling and re-using is great, but time (= money) and patient safety and comfort come first.

[katie258]

It's not just inside our hospitals here. In the middle of the biggest drought in Australian history, when we aren't allowed to use water for anything outside the house, this hospital and others in the area health service, were watering grass, concrete, the sides of buildings. All because of inapropriate placement of automatic sprinkler systems that the general public aretn't allowed to use! And don't get me started on the local council watering the roads causiing hazards to drivers, not to mention the fact that roads don't grow!

We aren't supposed to use sterile stok that requires auto-claving because it costs more than disposables, how weired is that?

[AirforceRN, RN]

All the sinks on our ward (we have half a dozen or more) have the sensors so the water turns on when you stick your hand under it and shuts off when you remove it (to lather up presumably). I'm sure this saves a tonne of water...

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

The kitchen where I work will recycle bottles and cans left on meal trays, and there are paper recycling boxes on our unit. We're also recycling batteries.