Environmental Sustainability in the Intensive Care Unit

Huffling, Katie; Schenk, Elizabeth

doi:10.1097/cnq.0000000000000028

Cited by 25 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The nurses' interviews filled in the gaps in previous knowledge (Huffling & Schenk, 2014; Kallio et al., 2018; Lipkin, 2012) and identified the variety of stakeholders needed if hospitals are to enable environmentally responsible clinical practice. Our study shows that officially defining the tasks of hospital administrators, unit leaders, nursing staff and the various support services, creates the foundation for multiprofessional collaboration and information sharing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmental responsibility in nursing in hospitals: A modified Delphi study of nurses' views

Kallio

Pietilä

Kangasniemi

2020

Journal of Clinical Nursing

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Objectives: To identify nurses' views on environmentally responsible clinical practices, and to examine their consensus regarding the stakeholders and their roles and tools needed to promote, and enable, environmental responsibility in clinical practice. Background: Using materials and energy in hospitals has a negative impact on the environment and people's environmental health. Research on decreasing this burden in clinical practice is sparse. Design: A modified Delphi method with two rounds. Methods: Data were collected from 35 nursing staff in five Finnish university hospitals in 2019. The first-round data were collected with semi-structured interviews in small groups and subjected to content analysis. The second-round data were collected with an Internet-based questionnaire from 27 of those participants and statistically analysed. The CREDES checklist was used. Results: According to nurses, environmentally responsible clinical practices focus on effective material and energy use. Material use focused on sustainable and cooperative purchasing, considerate use of products and minimising waste and idle electricity and reducing water and transport use. The tools needed to promote, and enable, environmental responsibility in clinical practice were staff inducements and training and certain resources and guidance. All the hospital health and support service staff needed to commit to collaboration. Conclusions: It is important to address stakeholders' roles in environmental responsibility in hospitals. Environmental aims should be firm and visible, and nurses should have the relevant competencies. They also need sufficient time to develop environmental initiatives and proper facilities to carry out their work with a minimal environmental burden. Providing staff feedback and rewards for their environmental efforts is beneficial for engagement. Relevance to clinical practice: This study will help nurses to identify their needs and opportunities to realise and develop environmental responsibility in their practice. It can also inform hospital leaders to develop corporate environmental responsibility, including in-service training.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nurses are close to everyday clinical practice, and previous studies have highlighted the benefits this offers when they get involved in environmental policy development at an organisational level (Anåker & Elf, 2014; Dunbar‐Reid & Buisktra, 2017). One example is advocating sustainable procurement in hospitals (Huffling & Schenk, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental responsibility in nursing in hospitals: A modified Delphi study of nurses' views

Kallio

Pietilä

Kangasniemi

2020

Journal of Clinical Nursing

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“…By focusing on reducing energy use, reducing waste, and handling waste responsibly, as well as by reducing use of and exposure to toxic chemicals, nurses can create safer and more sustainable work environments, including those for critically ill patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU). High cost, high stress, and a highly vulnerable patient population in ICU provide an excellent opportunity to evaluate this area of the hospital through the lens of hospital sustainability and environmental stewardship 8 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics of nursing professionals and the practice of ecologically sustainable actions in the medication processes

Furukawa

Cunha

Peterlini

et al. 2017

Rev. Latino-Am. Enfermagem

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Objectives: to verify the correlation between the characteristics of professionals and the practice of sustainable actions in the medication processes in an ICU, and to determine if interventions such as training and awareness can promote sustainable practices performed by nursing staff in the hospital.Methods: before-and-after design study using Lean Six Sigma methodology, applied in an intensive care unit. Nursing staff were observed regarding the practice of ecologically sustainable actions during medication processes (n = 324 cases for each group (pre and post-intervention)) through a data collection instrument. The processes analyzed involved 99 professionals in the pre-intervention phase and 97 in the post-intervention phase. Data were analyzed quantitatively and the association of variables was accomplished by means of statistical inference, according to the nature of the related variables.Results: the education level was the only characteristic that showed to be relevant to an increase in sustainable practices, with a statistically significant difference (p = 0.002). When comparing before and after the intervention, there was an increase in environmentally friendly actions with statistically significant differences (p = 0.001).Conclusions: the results suggest that institutions should encourage and invest in formal education, as well as training of health professionals to promote sustainable practices in the hospital.

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“…According to Kurth (2017) (Huffling & Schenk, 2014;Kurth, 2017). Additionally, practice nurses can lead local and regional adaptation efforts by engaging with community outreach programs, partnering with local leaders to help identify vulnerable and at-risk populations, mobilizing communities and creating local and organizational emergency plans (Kurth, 2017;Whitmee et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nursing’s metaparadigm, climate change and planetary health

2020

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This paper offers a theoretical discussion on why the nursing profession has had a delayed response to the issue of climate change. We suggest this delay may have been influenced by the early days of nursing's professionalization. Specifically, we examine nursing's professional mandate, the generally accepted metaparadigm, and the grand theorists’ conceptualizations of both the environment and the nurse–environment relationship. We conclude that these works may have encouraged nurses to conceptualize the environment, as well as their relationship with it, mainly in terms of the individual patient, and as such, nurses have not been encouraged to understand these concepts from a broader perspective. By not having the philosophical and theoretical foundations to understand the environment in relation to society, it is not surprising that nurses have had a delayed response to climate change and may not have viewed it as a professional concern. A planetary health perspective is suggested as a theoretical basis for nursing education, research and practice. Taking on a planetary health perspective could help nurses progress the profession and move healthcare systems towards supporting a climate‐resilient future.

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Environmental Sustainability in the Intensive Care Unit

Cited by 25 publications

References 14 publications

Environmental responsibility in nursing in hospitals: A modified Delphi study of nurses' views

Environmental responsibility in nursing in hospitals: A modified Delphi study of nurses' views

Characteristics of nursing professionals and the practice of ecologically sustainable actions in the medication processes

Nursing’s metaparadigm, climate change and planetary health

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