ACUTE CARE NURSES' AWARENESS OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF NURSING PRACTICE
Conceptual Basis/Background: Healthcare is an environmentally impactful enterprise, causing pollution through energy use, waste accumulation, and the use of toxic chemicals. Nurses are the most represented profession in health care, and have a Standard of Practice that requires nurses to “practice in an environmentally safe and healthy manner.” Yet, nurses’ awareness of these impacts and what behaviors they take to mitigate them are not known.
Methods: The newly developed and tested tool “Nurses Environmental Awareness Tool (NEAT)” consisting of six scales, was used to query almost 700 registered nurses in seven hospitals in three western states. An anonymous, web-based survey was used to administer the tool. Psychometric analysis was performed on the tool.
Results: Six hundred eighty-nine registered nurses from seven hospitals responded to the on-line survey: 93% were female, 85% Caucasian. Mean age was 46.8 years, and mean years as a nurse 18.3. Several differences in results between demographic groups were statistically significant. Older age predicted higher awareness and higher levels of mitigating behaviors, both at work and at home. Males showed lower awareness, but no difference in behaviors. Of the various unit types queried, intensive care nurses showed significantly lower work behaviors to mitigate environmental harm. Scores on the different scales were compared using regression, which showed a positive relationship between awareness and behaviors, both at work and at home (p<.0001). Nurses who thought environmental impacts were related to human health reported higher mitigation behaviors at home (p=.001), but not at work (p=.182).
Implications: The Nurses Environmental Awareness Tool is the first psychometrically analyzed instrument to measure nurses’ awareness of the environmental impacts of nursing practice. Presented here is the first study to use the tool to measure and compare awareness and behaviors of registered nurses practicing in acute care. Results give researchers an opportunity to begin to understand awareness, and the relationship of that awareness to behaviors aimed at reducing environmental impacts of nursing practice. This will help nurses follow their standard of practice to practice in an environmentally safe and healthy manner.