Assignment Guidelines
Required Readings/Presentations
- ANA Nursing Scope and Standards of Practice, Standard 18 (p. 106)
- ANA Code of Ethics for Nurses, Provision 6 (p. 23-25)
- E-Book Environmental Health in Nursing – Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environment Section IV pp 70-77
- Hazardous Chemicals in Health Care – Physicians for Social Responsibility: Hazardous chemicals in Health Care
- Greening up the ICU Presentation
- Sustainability in Critical Care Practice Presentation
- Working the Green Shift: Nurses Greening their Hospitals Presentation
Additional Resources
- ANA Principles of Environmental Health
- Environmental Health in Nursing
Practice Environment Assessment Checklist Items
Practice Environment Assessment Checklist: Use this list to evaluate your workspace:
- Evaluate your workspace for factors such as sound, odor, noise, and light that may negatively affect health.
- Discuss single-use equipment in the practice environment; does it save money? How is it disposed of?
- Find and study the environmental health manual in your workplace; examine the environmental health policy. Do the regulations concern you? Is there anything missing or hard to follow?
- What cleaning products does your workplace use? Is there a move towards greener cleaning practices?
- Evaluate how your workplace manages pharmaceutical waste (refer to the E-Book Environmental Health in Nursing, p. 75-76).
Assignment Overview:
The assignment will be presented as a Google Site:
Make sure to cite all information from any source and place the references at the bottom of each post.
Week 5: Post 1 (30 points):
- Select and elaborate on what you believe are the three most critical medical waste issues in the U.S. today.
- Describe the current national and local medical waste regulations and policies, and discuss their effect on your nursing practice.
Week 5: Post 2 (30 points):
- Describe your current practice environment and conduct an assessment according to the Sustainability in Nursing Workplace Assessment Sheet.
At the end of week 5 submit your URL to the week 5 drop box. Once these sections have been graded you will not have the opportunity to add further information to them.
Week 6: Post 3 (30 points):
- Discuss if your practice environment has a green team.
- If yes, provide details about the team members, their focus, and the achieved results.
- If no, discuss a process for establishing one, who would be involved and what could they contribute to the team, and the role of nurses would be.
Week 6: Post 4 (30 points):
- Discuss the relevance of Standard 18 of the ANA Nursing Scope & Standards of Practice to sustainability in nursing and your practice. Link your post to how you’d address 10 of the 14 competencies for this standard.
- Furthermore, discuss the relevancy of Provision 6 of the ANA Code of Ethics to this project. Make sure your post is linked to each of the three sections of this provision.
When these sections are completed review and republish your Google Site and submit it to the week 6 drop box. You will also submit your completed URL to the discussion board drop box.
