The clinic at my place of employment has a few opportunities
for exposure to hazardous chemicals. There are a number of ways to “green” the
clinic to make it safer both for those of us working in that setting and for
the environment. Reducing the use of fragrances and products with added
fragrance would help reduce exposure to these chemicals that have the potential
to cause respiratory symptoms in those exposed. Our company has a policy in
place that employees are not permitted to use personal fragrances, but we still
use products that have added fragrance. Disposing of pharmaceutical waste must
be done in a specific manner to reduce harmful release of certain substances into
the environment. However, patients are not typically instructed on how to
properly dispose of unused medications at home. Incorporating this education
into medication instruction would be beneficial in many ways. Patients must be
aware that flushing medications in the toilet is never an option. There is unfortunately
no green team in my work setting. We are a small company, and it is up to the
employees to offer suggestions for changes and new regulations. The clinic
supervisors and higher level leadership make the purchasing decisions.
Fortunately, the clinic supervisors are involved to offer first-hand experience
working in the clinics to help guide important decisions about products
purchased.
I recently watched a group of nurses introduce the concept of "going Greener" at the healthcare organization where I work and was very impressed. They proposed actual positions, meeting dates, stakeholders, and the overall cost of the first year. As of January 1st, 2020, this team persuaded the hospital to eliminate styrofoam from the hospital. That's huge!! The cafeteria has set up some stations where staff can choose other alternatives if they have to go back to their work areas with food. In the units, there are paper cup. What I loved about this was that this group made posters to show why we need to do this as an organization. I'm looking forward to what's next. I do feel we have such an advantage now because of this course.
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