Indoor air quality in health care settings is under scrutiny by numerous environmental health and nursing organizations because patients, nurses and others have experienced health problems in those settings. Some individuals and groups of individuals are especially affected by fragrance exposure.
Infants and children with immature immune systems and elders with weakened immune systems are particularly susceptible to harmful chemicals. In addition, people with asthma, allergies, migraines, compromised immune systems, and those who have been chemically injured are particularly vulnerable. Some patients are expressing frustration because their right to access health care is affected by toxic chemicals in health care environments. Sometimes they even have to choose between not getting health care and being exposed to harmful chemicals.
Individuals of reproductive age are at heightened risk of chemical body burden that can be transmitted to the unborn, while new mothers are torn between the positive and negative effects of breastfeeding their infants because hazardous chemicals are consistently being detected in the breast milk of a majority of women.
Nurses may be at even greater risk than patients because they experience cumulative exposure.This article focuses on the harmful chemicals in synthetic fragrance, another important and prevalent cause of poor indoor air quality in health care settings. The following questions will be answered: What are the health effects of fragrance exposure? What are some of the harmful chemicals commonly found in fragrance? What can you as a nurse do about this problem? What does a model fragrance policy look like? How would I go about advocating for or implementing such a policy? What are the key resources?
Join the CAMPAIGN FOR FRAGRANCE FREE HEALTH CARE IN THE U.S.
If you know of a facility that has a fragrance policy or a facility where nurses are interested in developing such a policy, email the author at the address below. A list of hospitals or large health care facilities that have fragrance policies is available at www.hcwh.org. Let’s work together to make our health care facilities healthier for all by being fragrance free!
"Reprinted with permission of the Maryland Nurses Association; originally published in the Maryland Nurse, Feb-March 2006, 7-9.
For a copy of the full article, contact the author:
Peggy Wolff, M.S., A.P.R.N., H.N.C. is a Licensed Psychiatric-Mental Health nurse for more than 30 years and co-developer of the American Holistic Nurses Association’s Certificate Program in Holistic Nursing. She specializes in working with people with environmental illnesses. An author of numerous articles on environmental health, she completed Health Care Without Harm’s “RN No Harm Training Program”. She can be reached at info@peggywolff.com
The Maryland Nurse, Feb-March 2006, 7-9.
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