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Practice Greenhealth’s Awards program has celebrated sustainability success since 2002. The Awards recognize the different players in the greening community (hospitals, clinics, manufacturers, GPOs, A&E firms, etc.). One of the Awards for which hospitals may apply, the Partner for Change Award, requires waste data reporting as well as other criteria. This report summarizes this waste data and various sustainable activities provided by the 2009 Partner for Change Award winners and presents a snapshot of what types of greening activities American hospitals are implementing today.
Type: Resources
Traditional methods of removing fluid medical waste from the operating room are being replaced in many places by fluid management systems that collect and discharge contents directly into the sanitary sewer.
Fluid management systems can replace single-use disposable plastic suction canisters, chemical solidifiers (itself an exposure risk), and significantly reduce waste disposal costs. Additional available safety features include smoke evacuation, precise vacuum control, fluid measurement, air filtration, and enclosed processing which further reduces occupational exposure risk.
Fluid… Read More
Type: Basic page
Gundersen Health System is building upon its successful pharmaceutical waste collection program with separate medication disposal containers for public use.
Gundersen is providing three medication drop boxes for patient, visitor and employee use. The boxes are located in the following areas on Gundersen campuses during normal Pharmacy business hours:
Gundersen La Crosse Clinic Pharmacy
Gundersen East Building Pharmacy
Gundersen Onalaska Clinic Pharmacy retail area
“Gundersen has had a pharmaceutical waste collection program in place for several years, but this initiative takes the program… Read More
Type: Press
The adoption of a plumbed-in filtered water system into Partners HealthCare McLean Hospital, in Boston, has resulted in the elimination of plastic bottles. In the inpatient areas alone: The FY08 baseline water per patient day expense was $0.97. By FY2011, patient per day expense was reduced to $.02. Annual recurring savings estimated at $38,000 (comparing FY08 to subsequent years). The hospital has reduced plastic waste, and the wasted time and effort (ordering, delivering, stocking), storage space and expense associated with plastic water bottle use.
Type: Resources
Beaumont Health System Royal Oak Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich., worked with suppliers to reduce waste from the operating room by evaluating the use of reusable as alternatives to disposable surgical instruments.
In 2013 Beaumont received a Partner for Change award from Practice Greenhealth, the nation’s leading health care membership community. Today Beaumont is a leader in sustainable health care in Michigan.
The hospital worked with Surgitech and Aesculap, Inc., to try a new reusable trocar as an alternative to traditional, single-use disposable trocars. They looked at the doctor… Read More
Type: Resources
As a component of an application to apply for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for a new construction project, Anne Arundel Medical Center, a regional health system headquartered in Annapolis, Md., set a goal to achieve a 50 to 75 percent diversion rate of demolition and construction debris. The medical center enrolled in our Less Waste Challenge and set a goal for construction and demolition debris recycling. The project team incorporated diversion and recycling specifications in construction management contracts and tracked and reviewed progress regularly.… Read More
Type: Resources
As your stretcher is wheeled into a hospital operating room (OR) and you stare up at the bright surgical lights, you are likely thinking about your impending surgery, not if those lights have LED bulbs or if the anesthetic gas you are about to breathe contributes to climate change. But maybe you should be. Hospitals consume over 10% of the nation's energy and generate more than 5.9 million tons of waste a year, and the health care sector is responsible for 8% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. The OR consumes more than its fair share of resources, eating up, on average, one third of a hospital… Read More
Type: Press
This step-by-step guide will help a health care facility achieve a 15 percent recycling rate compared to total waste.
Type: Resources
Moyle, Julie K. MSN, RN; Lynn, Cecilia DeLoach MBA, LEED AP
Author Information
Julie K. Moyle is the Founder of 1x1 Consulting and a Staff Nurse at Avista Surgery Center, Boulder, Colo. Cecilia DeLoach Lynn is the Director of Facility Engagement & Metrics at Practice Greenhealth, Reston, Va.
This article is based in part on a presentation given at the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) 2013 Congress, March 4, 2013 in San Diego, Calif. The authors wish to recognize contributing partners Debra J. Savage, MSN, RN, CNOR, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center East, Liisa J… Read More
Type: Press
Mercury reduction policies are among the most common environmental commitments in health care. Mercury is toxic to human health, posing a particular threat to the development of the child. To target mercury reduction and elimination as a goal, hospitals and health systems first need to assess where mercury is found within their facilities, which might include:
Clinical devices, such as thermometers, sphygmomanometers, esophageal bougies and dilators, certain tubing, and dental amalgam
Facility equipment, such as switches, relays, thermostats, fluorescent lamps and light bulbs, and batteries… Read More
Type: Basic page
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