Hanna Kallio, MHSc, examines environmental responsibility in nursing in hospitals in her dissertation. Focus is in the background, targets and implementation possibilities. According to the findings, realization of environmental responsibility in nursing requires systematic planning and for example competent staff. The public examination of the dissertation will be held in Finnish online on 20 May 2020 starting at 12 noon.
Nurses’ environmentally responsible behavior protects public environmental health. It focuses in the material-, electricity- and water use, which as little as possible burdens environment. Previous national and international research on environmental responsibility in nursing and its implementation has been sparse. Also knowledge regarding the stakeholders’ roles has been minor.
Environmental responsibility in nursing is topical as healthcare is one of the most environmentally burdensome service sectors. The American healthcare alone causes an annual pollution burden estimated to contribute on the loss of 600 thousands of healthy life years globally. Nurses form the largest group of health professionals, and as they work close to patients, they play a significant role in handling different care products, electricity and water. Nursing activity also broadly pertains different support services that cause pollution, such as kitchen, laundry and transportation.
The empirical data of the dissertation has been collected with qualitative methods, interviewing hospitals’ environmental experts and nursing staff. According to the results, environmental responsibility in nursing requires systematic planning. The central factors in implementing environmental responsibility are ensuring staff competency and resources, namely functional premises, durable and highquality products and staffing, and multilevel guidance. Also diverse follow-up, assessment and engagement tools are needed.
The doctoral dissertation of Hanna Kallio, Master of Health Sciences, entitled Environmental responsibility in nursing in hospitals, will be examined at the Faculty of Health Sciences. The Opponent in the public examination will be Docent Satu Elo of the University of Oulu, and the Custos will be Docent Mari Kangasniemi of the University of Turku.
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Kallio, Hanna. Environmental responsibility in nursing in hospitals
