A Green Practice for Nurses in Health Facilities: Recycling

Öz

The reason for existence of health institutions is to protect and improve the health of the society.While providing these services, some undesirable negative effects on the environment. These include radiation, climate change and environmental pollution as a result of greenhouse gases produced by burning medical waste, etc. can be given as an example. “the result of greenhouse gases are climate change and environmental pollution from medical waste disposal and radiation cause some of these” Today, as a result of the widespread use of disposable materials in health institutions, the amount of waste increases significantly. The wastes produced in health institutions have an environmental and economic value. Nurses, who constitute a large proportion of healthcare professionals worldwide and use medical supplies the most, can contribute to transforming this waste into economic value by becoming aware of the recyclable wastes generated during healthcare and separating them at their source. In addition, they can be role models for other professions by adopting and executing environmentally sensitive nursing practices. In this review, the benefits of recycling in health institutions, recyclable medical materials, examples of successful applications, obstacles and solution suggestions in recycling applications, nurses' responsibilities in recycling applications are examined.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Environment
• recycling
• nurse
• health facilities
• green practice

Sağlık Kuruluşlarında Hemşireler İçin Yeşil Bir Uygulama: Geri Dönüşüm

Öz

Sağlık kuruluşlarının varlık nedeni, toplumun sağlığını korumak ve geliştirmektir. Bu hizmetleri verirken çevre üzerinde istenmeyen bazı olumsuz etkileri de bulunmaktadır. Bunlara radyasyon, tıbbı atıkların yakılmasıyla oluşan sera gazları sonucu iklim değişikliği ve çevre kirliliği vb. örnek verilebilir. Günümüzde sağlık kuruluşlarında tek kullanımlık malzemelerin yaygın olarak kullanılması sonucu atık miktarları belirgin bir şekilde artış göstermektedir. Sağlık kuruluşlarında üretilen atıkların çevresel ve ekonomik açıdan bir değeri bulunmaktadır. Dünya genelinde sağlık çalışanları içinde büyük bir orana sahip olan ve tıbbi malzemeleri en fazla kullanan hemşireler, sağlık sunumu sırasında oluşan geri dönüştürülebilir atıkların farkına vararak ve bu atıkları kaynağında ayırarak bu ekonomik değere dönüştürülmesine katkı sağlayabilirler. Bunun yanı sıra çevreye duyarlı hemşirelik uygulamalarını benimseyerek ve yürüterek de diğer mesleklere rol model olabilirler. Bu derlemede sağlık kuruluşlarında geri dönüşümün faydaları, geri dönüştürülebilecek tıbbi malzemeler, başarılı uygulama örnekleri, geri dönüşüm uygulamalarında engeller ve çözüm önerileri (yaklaşımları), geri dönüşüm uygulamalarında hemşirenin sorumlulukları incelenmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Çevre
• geri dönüşüm
• hemşire
• sağlık kurumları
• yeşil uygulama

Kaynakça

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