Welcome Kit and Resources

The Health Care Without Harm Nurses' Workgroup has designed a tool kit for nurses who are interested in learning more about how to reduce the environmental impact of their health care facilities.

• HCWH Information
• Issue Factsheets and Resource Kits
• Political Action
• Other Tools and Resources for Nurses

HCWH Information

• Introductory Letter (pdf)
  
• HCWH Work Group Information
  
• Health Care Without Harm Publications List (pdf)
  

Issue Factsheets and Resource Kits

• Environmental Health in the Health Care Setting (pdf)
  
• Going Green 2-2: Making Medicine Mercury Free (pdf)
  
• Going Green 3-1: Dioxin, PVC and Health Care (pdf)
  
• Going Green 3-4: Reducing PVC Use in Hospitals (pdf)
  
• Going Green 6-1: Latex Allergy in Health Care Fact Sheet (pdf)
  

Political Action

ANA House of Delegates Action Reports:

• ANA House of Delegates Position Statement (1997) on Incineration (pdf)
• Inappropriate Use of Antimicrobials in Agriculture (2004) (pdf)
• Environmental Health Principles in Nursing Practice (2004) (pdf)
• Nursing Practice, Chemical Exposures and Right-to-Know (2006) (pdf)

ICN Position Statements:

• Reducing Environmental and Lifestyle-related Health Hazards (1999)
• Nursing and Development (2000)
• Universal Access to Clean Water (2002)
• Medical Waste: Role of Nurses and Nursing (2004)

AORN Statement

• AORN Recommended Practices for Environmental Responsibility (pdf)

Other Tools and Resources for Nurses

• Center for Occupational and Environmental Health
  ANA's Center for Occupational and Environmental Health provides occupational and environmental health expertise on issues related to the nursing profession and healthcare industry
• SHEA White Paper on Worker Health and Safety
  Document developed at the October 16, 2000 Setting Health Care s Environmental Agenda conference in San Francisco
• California Integrated Waste Management Board
  Has developed medical waste signage for facilities to use in implementing an aggressive red bag waste minimization program, as well as technical fact sheets on gluteraldehyde, ethylene oxide and other toxic substance in the health care sector
• Nightingale Institute for Health and the Environment
  Assists healthcare professionals to recognize the inextricable link between human and environmental health and their role in creating the change in practice needed to improve the health of humans and the environment
• EnviRN
  Web site from the University of Maryland School of Nursing dedicated to supporting nursing professionals seeking accurate, timely and credible scientific information on environmental health and nursing
• Eleven Recommendations for Improving Medical Waste Management
  Guidelines from Hollie Shaner and Glenn McRae of the Nightingale Institute for Health and the Environment for better medical waste management by municipal governments and health care facilities
• Body Burden
  Environmental Working Group's studies on body burdens of chemicals in adults and newborns
• The Louisville Charter for Safer Chemicals
• Statement on the Precautionary Principle
• Commonweal's The Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE)
• The Sustainable Hospitals Project
• Campaign for Safe Cosmetics