Since May 1, 2023, Island Health has launched the “Gloves Off!” campaign to create a noticeable and measurable decrease in inappropriate glove use through a paradigm shift in organizational culture.
Launched in fall 2023 in collaboration with the Réseau d’Action pour la Santé Durable du Québec (RASDQ), the Association québécoise des médecins pour l’environnement (AQME), Synergie Santé Environnement (SSE) and CASCADES, and with the support of the Association des médecins d’urgence du Québec (AMUQ) and Choisir avec soin, the “Les Gants, pas tout le temps” campaign aims to raise awareness among healthcare personnel of the appropriate use of gloves, as proposed by the WHO in the information sheet on glove use.
This webinar, hosted by CASCADES and the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care, explored approaches used by organizations to address unnecessary glove use. Manufactured from synthetic materials such as latex, nitrile, or vinyl, single-use gloves carry financial costs as well as environmental and health impacts. During the session, representatives from the NHS, British Columbia, and Quebec provided an in-depth overview of the development of their initiatives to promote appropriate glove use in health care settings.
This video is shared by the Royal College of Nursing as part of the Quebec campaign “les Gants, pas tout le temps!” In 2022, the UK’s Royal College of Nursing (RCN) launched the Glove Awareness Week with the aim of raising awareness among healthcare workers of the environmental impact of unnecessary glove use, and offering tips and tricks to limit unnecessary glove consumption and thus contribute to a more sustainable health
This charter can be used as a stand-alone resource or alongside existing organizational templates. It is a structured tool that builds on the Model for Improvement by integrating sustainability prompts into standard project charter components. It follows the SE-QI approach, which embeds sustainability within existing QI steps and structures, rather than adding it as a separate process. Prompts are woven throughout core elements such as scope, problem definition, and measurement planning. Each slide also includes accompanying speaking notes with additional guidance for each step.
The environmental impact of PPE is large and could be reduced through domestic manufacture, rationalising glove use, using reusables where possible and optimising waste management.
Hence, in settings with frequent use of sharp equipment, open wounds, and mucus membrane exposure, examination gloves should be required. In cases where most pathogens cannot be transmitted through intact skin, the procedure is not seen as an exposure risk, and natural defences form an adequate barrier against transmittable disease, and sanitation of the hands might be an adequate and more ethical consideration for use. We have illustrated some examples to help readers decide when removing gloves for a procedure is appropriate and when it is not.
My research’s purpose was to help fight the global COVID pandemic by helping ethanol producers produce USP grade ethanol as well as study the environmental impacts of producing USP grade ethanol.
This tool will calculate: 1. The total carbon emissions saved from patient travel averted to and from your facility (in metric tonnes of CO2e) 2. The cost savings to patients from patient travel averted to and from your facility, including the cost of transit fare, gas, insurance, vehicle wear and tear, and parking (in Canadian dollars) 3. The total carbon and financial costs of in-person patient visits to and from your facility (in metric tonnes of CO2e) 4. The carbon and cost savings associated with virtual visits at various percentages of total visits (forecasting)
