Sustainability interventions in nursing wards
Monitoring parameters
Reusable blood pressure cuff
Measuring a patient’s blood pressure is an essential part of patient care. Nurses can do this using either disposable or reusable blood pressure cuffs.
Intervention
Replace disposable blood pressure cuffs with reusable blood pressure cuffs.
Environmental impact
Measured in CO₂ emissions, based on the reduction in the number of disposable blood pressure cuffs and the reuse of blood pressure cuffs.
Implementation approach
Look at the approach for implementing a (reusable) product and consult the step-by-step guide for more information on setting goals, implementation, and evaluation.
When is it implemented?
This intervention is considered implemented when the nursing units in the hospital have switched to reusable blood pressure cuffs and the difference in CO₂-equivalent (kg) has been calculated.
How is this measured?
The environmental impact of this intervention can be determined using purchasing data for the number of disposable blood pressure cuffs, see the procedure for measuring an intervention using purchasing data.
Resources
Click here for an example where Radboud UMC switched to reusable blood pressure cuffs, and click here for the infographic. This resulted in an annual reduction of 2812 kg of plastic waste.
Resultaten
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View our other interventions
Nursing practice
Reusable non-sterile suture removal set
A suture removal set contains sterile disposable materials such as gauze, cotton swabs, tweezers, and scissors or a stitch cutter. The tweezers and scissors do not need to be sterile and can be replaced by clean, reusable ones that are cleaned and disinfected. This means the final sterilisation step is omitted after cleaning and disinfection. Mechanical cleaning (thermal disinfection) is preferred over manual cleaning.
Nursing practice
Reducing maintenance IV flow rate
A maintenance IV with NaCl 0.9% at a flow rate of 5 ml/hour is often used to keep the IV line open for patients not receiving intravenous medication. Reducing the pump rate to 2 ml/hour lowers NaCl 0.9% use, allowing for smaller infusion bags or less frequent bag replacement. This is more sustainable and reduces material consumption.
Nursing practice
Using the same infusion sets on every ward
When hospital departments use different IV systems, IV lines may need to be replaced when a patient is transferred because the systems are not compatible. This leads to unnecessary waste, takes additional time, and can cause discomfort for the patient. A single, standardised IV system prevents this.
