Green Buckeye RN

Jun 29, 2009

Hospitals that have adopted disposable eco-friendly bedpans say the products not only help reduce medical waste but that they also help improve nurse morale, Nurse Zone reports. Canada-based Vernacare manufactures the bedpans, which are made from recycled newspapers and telephone books that have been treated with a natural resin to render them leak proof, along with similar products including emesis basins and other receptacles for collecting body fluids. The products are disposed of using a machine called a macerator that adds water and grinds the vessel into fine paper fragments that are disposed of through the hospital’s sewage system. Vernacare products have been popular in Europe for the last 50 years, but American hospitals were slow to adopt them until facilities began making efforts to be more environmentally conscious. Officials at Christiana Care Health System in Wilmington, Del., report that, since implementing the products, the hospital has eliminated the use of more than 7,000 emesis basins, 17,000 urinals and 25,000 basins annually in its emergency department, helping the hospital eliminate 4,000 pounds of plastic waste. Moreover, the hospital reports that nurse satisfaction has improved since adopting the products because nurses are no longer spending time cleaning bed pans. Although little research has been conducted to determine whether Vernacare products can reduce infection transmission, a recent study in the American Journal of Critical Care suggests that conventional bath basins frequently harbor bacteria. Commenting on the products, Vernacare’s vice president notes that “it’s a small tool to make bedside nursing more tolerable.” (Wood, Nurse Zone, 6/29/09)