Doing the Right Thing. (Part 2: Social and Environmental Responsibility)

Transcription

1 Doing the Right Thing (Part 2: Social and Environmental Responsibility)

2 by Rose Seavey, MBA, BS, RN, CNOR, CRCST, CSPDT Learning Objectives 1. Define the concept of social responsibility 2. Discuss ways that healthcare organizations and individual professionals can be good citizens 3. Identify resources for available guidelines for resource conservation and protection of the environment 4. Identify opportunities for the Central Service Manager to be socially responsible 5. List ways to determine if potential decisions will be ethical This series of self-study lessons on CS topics was developed by the International Association of Healthcare Central Service Materiel Management (IAHCSMM), and can be used toward CRCST re-certification or toward nursing credits. Pfeidler Enterprises and IAHCSMM both offer grading opportunities. Earn Continuing Education Credits Online: Nursing Credit: Pfiedler Enterprises will award nursing credit for this Self-Study Lesson Plan. Pfiedler Enterprises is a provider approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP 14944, for 1 contact hour. Obtaining full credit for this offering depends upon attendance, regardless of circumstances, from beginning to end. Licensees must provide their license numbers for record keeping purposes. The certificate of course completion issued at the conclusion of this course must be retained in the participant s records for at least four (4) years as proof of attendance. In order to receive credit you must go to and complete the test, evaluation and registration forms. Once completed, you will be directed to print your certificate of completion. IAHCSMM Credit: IAHCSMM will award credit for this Self-Study Lesson Plan toward the renewal of a CRCST certification. To receive IAHCSMM credit, please visit for online grading (nominal fees will apply). Each 20 question online quiz with a passing score of 70% or higher is worth two points (2 contact hours) toward your CRCST re-certification of 12 CEs. More information: For questions or problems about Nursing Credits available for this lesson plan, please contact tonia@pfiedlerenterprises.com. For questions about IAHCSMM Credit available for this lesson plan, please contact us at or mailbox@iahcsmm.org. In the FIRST ARTICLE in this TWO-PART SERIES (PUBLISHED in the May/June issue of Communiqué), we addressed the need for Central Service (CS) managers to make professional decisions ethically. We presented some basic guiding information that can be helpful in assuring that managers carry out responsibilities in a manner consistent with their ethical obligations. The first article included an introduction to the American Nurses Association Code of Ethics for Nurses. In this article, we explore the social responsibilities of these managers and their employers. Healthcare facilities should be good citizens in their communities, in their state and nation, and even around the world. The main emphasis: good managers recognize and understand their ethical responsibilities extend beyond the boundaries of their department, their facility, and even their local community. Objective 1: Define the concept of social responsibility Social Responsibility The concept of social responsibility (often referred to as corporate responsibility in the world of business) relates, in part, to the efforts a healthcare facility makes to consider and address commitments to its constituencies (i.e., patients, employees) and businesses (i.e., suppliers and investors, if applicable. It is, hopefully, obvious that a healthcare facility must satisfactorily address commitments to these stakeholders. The concept of social responsibility extends the obligations of healthcare facilities by suggesting they also have responsibilities to the community-at-large and to society, in general. These responsibilities include concerns that healthcare professionals become involved in outreach activities within their specific communities and in society, as a whole. Some examples, such as providing the best possible healthcare at all times (including during natural disasters and other emergencies), are obvious. Examples such as the provision of healthcare education within the community, contributions to the research efforts of educational institutions, and activities relating to professional associations depend, in part, upon a facility s resources. However, the interests of facility administrators and staff members will also determine the type and extent of social responsibilities that will be addressed. Objective 2: Discuss ways that healthcare organizations and individual professionals can be good citizens Today s society increasingly emphasizes that its organizations be good citizens, and healthcare professionals, including those in nursing and Central Service, can do so in many ways. Examples include when they: Assume a responsibility toward the environment by controlling (minimizing) the pollution of air, water and land. Healthcare facilities can participate in environmentally-friendly initiatives, such as recycling, conserving energy and resources, and priotizing the use of environmentally-friendly packaging. Contribute time and money to worthwhile community projects and charitable causes. Serve on advisory boards of educational institutions offering healthcare career preparation programs. For example, they can update faculty about industry standards and trends, and they can serve as mentors to students and graduates. Offer their facility a clinical site to provide educational and training experiences that help assure a local workforce and provide community service. SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2014 Communiqué

3 Healthcare facilities in the U.S. generate more than two million tons of waste annually and a large portion of it is generated in the perioperative setting. Besides the waste consumption, energy and water consumption drastically impacts the environment in a negative way. 1 Donate equipment and instruments to programs that can best use them, such as those providing free and/or low cost services, and to teaching programs located within their communities and around the world. Facilitate the sponsorship of programs that provide healthcare workers and supplies to countries needing medical assistance. Provide services during times of disasters and other emergencies. A review of ways that CS personnel can assist with community disaster plans are found in IAHCSMM s Central Service Technical Manual, Seventh Edition. Coordinate activities for employees that provide volunteer services for the community. The above and numerous other ways healthcare professionals can increase their scope of service to a broader community base requires a sense of direction from top-level administrators. They also require the interest of and enthusiasm from the facility s staff members who must have an expanded definition of ethics beyond relationships with their internal constituencies. Instead, ethical concerns should include an ever-expanding definition of community that extends beyond the city limits of a facility s location and, perhaps even beyond state and national boundaries. In each instance, enlightened and ethical human resources are integral to fulfilling the mission of being a good global citizen. Objective 3: Identify resources and available guidelines for resource conservation and protection of the environment Environmental Responsibility Healthcare facilities in the U.S. generate more than two million tons of waste annually and a large portion of it is generated in the perioperative setting. Besides the waste consumption, energy and water consumption drastically impacts the environment in a negative way. 1 Nurses have an ethical responsibility in resource conservation and protection of the environment. 1 The Association of perioperative Registered Nurses (AORN) Guidance Statement on Environmental Responsibility provides strategies for nurses to use in becoming effective stewards of the environment. 1 The environmental responsibility guidance statement covers: infectious and noninfectious waste management recycling practices resource conservation supply conservation and management practices reprocessing reuse, repair and refurbishing sterilization and disinfection, and construction for efficiency and conservation. 1 This AORN document is often used to provide direction for the creation of environmentally- responsible policies and procedures in healthcare facilities. By implementing sterilization and disinfection strategies that are cost effective or conserve resources, nurses and CS professionals can affect the environment considerably. Some examples of strategies that should be considered include: Educating employees on the environment impact of sterilant and disinfectants. Using and disposing of liquid chemicals in accordance with manufacturers written instructions, and local, state and federal agency requirements. Communiqué SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2014

4 nursing Lesson Plan Figure 1: Employees Enable Healthcare Facilities to Meet Social Responsibilities Management Actions Delivery of Impact Facility s Influence Enable Products Employees and Services Fulfillment of Facility s Social Responsibilities Purchasing items that require sterilization or disinfection processes with the least risk of potential harm to the environment. Monitoring the environmental effects for the effects of sterilization and disinfection products. Keeping necessary supplies and equipment readily available to deal with chemicals that may spill. 1 Objective 4: Identify Opportunities for the Central Service Manager to be socially responsible Role of CS Managers At this point, careful readers might be thinking, While healthcare facilities do have some social responsibilities, how do they relate to the work of CS managers? The answer to this question addresses at least two issues: Cultural consistency within the facility Can leaders of a healthcare facility and the CS department within it really be concerned about patient, employee and investor constituencies without being concerned about the rights of others? Managers help to shape a facility s culture, and they serve as role models for others within their organization. If CS managers are genuinely concerned about using their specialized knowledge, skills, and abilities to provide applicable services within their communities, it is likely that their employees will mirror this concern and likewise have an interest in doing so. Consider, for example, the impact of positive publicity (freeof-charge information in the media that attracts attention to a facility) that arises as organizations participate in community activities, and assist with (or take a lead in) addressing broad societal concerns. These contributions cannot be made unless someone facilitates their planning and implementation. CS managers and their staff members can be the catalysts in making these things happen. Employer-of-choice concerns Some organizations are known within their communities to be preferable places to work, and applicants are attracted to those which have favorable reputations. Likewise, other enterprises may be thought of as the employers of last resort. Networks of young people enrolled in community colleges and universities who are seeking employment want to learn about potential employers. An organization s reputation is influenced by how its employees are treated (another reference to ethical issues addressed in the first article in this series). Current employees tell family, friends and others about their at-work experiences, and the facility s employment reputation is known to many persons within the community. A healthcare facility with an unfavorable reputation within the community will not be looked to or be respected for its efforts to provide community services. CS managers influence the reputation of their facility by how they interact with those whom they supervise. All healthcare managers and many citizens in every community are well aware of concerns that patients receive the best possible healthcare, the financial implications of this goal, and the impact of governmental concerns and regulations that extend significantly beyond the purpose of this article: to address human resources concerns of healthcare social responsibility. However, without effective CS employees and staff members in all other departments of the facility, the proper medical care cannot be delivered, and the facility cannot meet its social responsibility obligations. Therefore, it is not a stretch to state that CS managers help their employer to attain social responsibility goals as they eliminate discrimination, promote employee health and safety, advocate for diversity, respect union rights, if applicable, and otherwise practice effective human resources skills. Managers must effectively recruit, train, retain, and motivate the most qualified staff members. In the context of CS, they must effectively manage to best assure that there will always be knowledgeable, trained, and motivated staff members to deliver products and services to their healthcare peers who directly serve the patients and the community. Figure 1 shows the relationship between healthcare facility employees and the attainment of a facility s social responsibilities. As seen in Figure 1, the actions of a facility s managers, including those in CS, directly impact employees. They, in turn, influence the delivery of products and services which enable the facility to fulfill SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2014 Communiqué

5 CS managers can make a difference in the lives of many of their stakeholders. The best managers recognize this and expand their definition of ethics to include the dimension of social and environmental responsibility. its societal responsibilities. The supervisory knowledge, skills and abilities of managers influence their leadership of employees, and an ethical decision-making process is integral to the relationship between managers and those whom they manage. Objective 5: List ways to determine if potential decisions will be ethical An article discussing ethics was published in the July/August 2003 issue of the Communiqué. 2 It included a list of questions that one could pose to help determine whether potential decisions will be ethical. Each of these questions can be slightly paraphrased to help CS managers consider the worth of assisting their facilities with social responsibilities: Will what I intend to do be helpful to those in the community? Would I be proud to tell my family about what I have done? Would I be happy if my decision was a headline in the local community or healthcare facility s newspaper? Can I be happy with myself if I implement my decision? Would I like someone else to do this if I was affected by the action? Does my proposed action hurt anyone? Is my proposed decision reflective of my desire to be professional? What if everyone made the same decision that I made? Will the community be better if I do this? In Conclusion Everyone benefits when organizations assume social and environmental responsibility for their actions. Is this factor the primary concern of a person applying for a position in the CS department of a healthcare facility? Probably not. Do those employed by an organization feel good when they hear and/or read positive things about their organization? Probably so. Would employees of a healthcare organization like to contribute their time and even money to worthwhile causes sponsored or coordinated by their employer? Many would. You can see, then, that the extent of a facility s social responsibility is impacted by the management of its human resources. CS managers can make a difference in the lives of many of their stakeholders. The best managers recognize this and expand their definition of ethics to include the dimension of social and environmental responsibility. References 1. AORN Guidance Statement: Environmental Responsibility. In: Perioperative Standards and Recommended Practices. Denver, CO: AORN, Inc pp Ninemeier J. Just a Matter of Ethics. IAHCSMM Communiqué July/August pp Rose Seavey is President/CEO of Seavey Healthcare Consulting and formerly the Director of the Sterile Processing Department at The Children s Hospital of Denver. She served on the AORN Board in She received AORN s award for Mentorship in 2012 and Outstanding Nurse Education in Seavey is a past President of ASHCSP. She was one of the Who s Who in Infection Prevention in 2006 by Infection Control Today, and received the IAHCSMM Award of Honor in Seavey is the author of the book Sterile Processing In Healthcare Facilities: Preparing for Accreditations Surveys, published by AAMI, and she serves on several AAMI committees writing standards. Communiqué SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2014