Going green isn't always effluent

The Patient Protection and Affordability Act is a law determined to bring down the cost of healthcare in the United States with several initiatives. Hospitals are looking for ways to meet the 2014 goals set forth by the law. In the spirit of “reduce, reuse and recycle” our WOCN consult services sought to promote educational material at little to no paper cost to the facility. The term: “Going green isn’t always effluent” was coined.

The WOCN website internet and intranet was created in 2008 and accessible by all nursing and medical staff.  The website is updated regularly with the latest literature, supported procedures and protocols to aid in the ongoing education of patients and staff.   Information can be uploaded and electronically sent to patient’s or staff email addresses.  We believe this has decreased the amount of paper and copying products utilized by this 800+ bed facility.

The most immediate impact with the change to digital educational material is the way class materials are distributed. One such initiative moved the Skin and Wound Resource Nurse core class to go completely paperless in March 2012.The class (held twice a year) roster is designed for thirty individuals plus several instructors. Previously, there would have been thirty-five booklets printed with 104 pages at a cost range of $4.00 to $17.00 per unit for a total cost to the facility of $140.00 to $595.00.The Core Class material and visiting instructor’s presentations are now posted on the intranet site two weeks prior to class. Participants are asked to bring laptops with downloaded material to class. Our initiative looking out over ten years will save the facility $2800.00 to $11,900.00. We hope this initiative will inspire other groups to move the direction of becoming greener.