Intensive care medicine and sustainability : Contradiction or self-evident?

Abstract

Intensive care medicine is one of the most resource-intensive areas of the hospital. As aresult, nurses have acrucial role to play in adapting processes to promote sustainability in the intensive care unit. This represents asignificant contribution to creating amore climate-friendly hospital. This paper aims to provide an overview of the opportunities for nurses in the multiprofessional team to exert influence in their daily practice in order to promote sustainability on their ward. The authors summarize further results of the online survey of the DGIIN (Deutschen Gesellschaft für Internistische Intensiv- und Notfallmedizin) sustainability working group. In addition, asystematic literature search was carried out in the PubMed (U.S. National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD, USA) database and in the internet. Nurses are able to identify an influence on the consumption of materials and the possibility of using them according to indication. The willingness to develop strategies and involvement in process changes are essential. The lack of structures that deal exclusively with sustainability and the lack of knowledge on this topic lead to ageneral lack of knowledge and uncertainty. This situation can be improved by targeted measures of education and training, e.g., by Green Teams.