Tools and resources

Greening the OR: template press release

• Climate and Health
• Greening the Operating Room
• Communications

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Greening the OR: Savings, trends, opportunities

• Greening the Operating Room
• Webinar

While crucial to patient care, the surgical department for many health care facilities can be a huge source of energy consumption, waste generation, and supply expenses, not to mention greenhouse gas emissions. During this call, we’ll examine the most recent Practice Greenhealth benchmark data and highlight national trends. We’ll share success stories from leading hospitals and lessons to bring…

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Webinar: Greening the OR energy efficiency with HVAC setbacks

• Greening the Operating Room
• Webinar

Reducing HVAC demands in ORs when they are unoccupied can save an average of more than $3,200 per OR per year. Speakers review air exchange rate operation and standards, reducing rates to minimum standards during unoccupied periods. 

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Webinar: Clinical engagement and emerging best practices in the OR

• Greening the Operating Room
• Anesthetic Gas
• Waste Segregation
• Clinician engagement
• Webinar

In the operating room, the stakes are high and moments count. Great measures are taken to prevent bad outcomes. At the same time, the most recent and conservative Practice Greenhealth (PGH) estimate places annual hospital waste at 5.9 million tons per year in the United States alone. Perioperative services is the single largest clinical generator of trash in all of health care, responsible for…

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Webinar: Energy and water benchmarking for hospitals

• Water
• Webinar
• Energy
• Toolkit

(Less water toolkit) Energy benchmarking tools keep evolving, and water is an increasingly precious resource that also merits analysis. Checking your patterns of consumption and comparing them with those of your peers in the healthcare industry can provide invaluable insight, and spark ideas for money-saving improvements. Using information from Grumman/Butkus Associates' annual healthcare…

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Webinar: Effectively managing waste anesthesia gas

• Greening the Operating Room
• Anesthetic Gas
• Webinar

The energy and equipment needed to safely evacuate Waste Anesthesia Gas (WAG) in the Operating Room (OR) may be operating during unoccupied periods, wasting energy and wearing out equipment.  Concurrently, minimizing the atmospheric exhaust of WAG is considered a key strategy in reducing a health facility’s carbon footprint.  The global warming potential over 100 years (GWP100) of commonly used…

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Earth Day 2019 activities and ideas

• Earth Day
• Webinar
• Dignity Health
• HealthPartners

Learn about Earth Day activities from 2019 through an archived webinar. Join Practice Greenhealth’s Hermine Levey Weston, Kim Ray from Dignity Health and Samantha McKeough from HealthPartners for some lively presentations and sharing of Earth Day events. Learn what your organization can do to engage your staff and community in environmental stewardship for this year’s celebration of our planet…

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Webinar: Ecological designer's perspective on climate, health and landscaping

• Water
• Webinar
• Green Building
• Buildings

This webinar provides a review of the potential for environmental and human healing with landscape management with a case study from various ecosystem-based projects. Jacob Blue reviews some of the most recent research regarding the role nature plays in human health as well as explore opportunities for improving the ecological health and function of landscapes. Following that, we hear a case…

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Webinar: Safer Hand Hygiene: The case for eliminating triclosan and triclocarban

• Chemicals
• Hand Hygiene

Infection prevention and control in health care is of primary importance. However, some common ingredients in hand soaps used in the healthcare setting, including triclosan and triclocarban, can pose hazards for employees and the environment. In light of environmental and human health concerns, Practice Greenhealth recently launched the Hand Hygiene Challenge to reduce the use of triclosan and…

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Webinar: Water conservation and pollution prevention best practices

• Water
• Webinar
• Mayo Clinic

In this webinar featuring EPA expert and a Mayo Clinic representative, Practice Greenhealth offers useful information on water conservation and pollution prevention. A healthy water supply is essential for heating, cooling, and sanitation. Hospitals use a lot of water in these operations and therefore must be good stewards for their community, especially when there are external stressors to the…

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