How can RVNs help empower the veterinary team to go green?

The why?

Team values are a really good starting place to help secure environmentally positive culture change. The ‘why’ creates an incentive and starts the process of the ‘buy-in’. If we have one member of the team who is very proactive with wanting to go green, but the team are not bought in or don’t consider it to be one of their values, then the change isn’t going to happen. Being sustainable should be a shared value – its impact is great and being environmentally green is only one part of it.

Start by getting the team together and redefining your core values; this gives everyone a chance to share their ‘why’ and explain to the team what matters to them. You can choose 5 or 6 core values for your team, with going green being part of this. These values become the foundation for every decision you make as a team, they form part of the accountability for actions which helps drive a culture change.

Then create an environmental policy based on your values, have the team agree and sign up to it, and review this policy annually.

How can Veterinary Nurses lead the way?

Veterinary nurses often give a valuable perspective in creating the environmental policy, since they have roles in many areas of the practice. There is so much that the veterinary nurse can practically do to make positive changes too.

Very often as an RVN or SVN we’re responsible for stock control and management. Here we can look into responsible sourcing, reducing ‘shrinkage’ (our out of date and disposed stock), and we have a very significant role to play in antimicrobial stewardship in our practices. We need to ensure our training is up to date and we’re doing all we can to minimise waste anaesthetic gases by managing efficient anaesthetics and having up to date protocols – we can lead those conversations with the veterinary surgeons.

Veterinary nurses have a similar role and responsibility when it comes to parasite prevention – using risk assessments and communicating how to use the products safely for the pet but also to have as little an impact on the environment as possible, as well as their correct disposal.

We’re also very often involved in waste management – are we doing all we can to reduce, reuse or recycle and ensure we’re effectively segregating waste. Do the policies need reviewing?

Another area that RVN’s can have an impact is energy usage – we may not always have control over the suppliers used, but we can have an awareness of the energy used within the building in a working day. Do all those lights/heaters/aircons/computers etc need to be on.

These are just some ideas of areas the veterinary nurse can easily be involved with.

Start small

Remember to start small, review, reflect and get the team on board before tackling the next challenge, and lead by example!

Overwhelm is a genuine concern when asking for change, so make sure you are aware of how each member of our team processes change. What information do they need for the ‘buy-in’ and to get involved? Change needs to feel constructive and needs an easy transition, so pick one area that you would like to change – eg a review of waste disposal, then get the team involved. There may be challenges you hadn’t foreseen, and they can give insight to potentially unintended consequences of that change, which you can then work together on to find a solution.

Make sure any requests for change are properly understood. If it’s too complicated or hasn’t been communicated properly, then people are less likely to do it. Make sure changes are reviewed frequently and listen to team feedback to help prevent slipping back into old habits.

Using SMART targets can help create clear targets with an end point to aim towards, which can then be reviewed before moving on to another action. This makes goals achievable and their impact visible, and will help prevent many ideas starting at once and not getting finished – avoiding overwhelm.

Feedback!

We’re not always great at feedback – not just within our profession but as a society. We tend to only hear back if there is something negative or something exceptional, the in between often gets forgotten. If you’re implementing a change, make sure you feedback when it’s going well, even if it is only a small change. Ensure feedback is objective, factual and includes the impact, as this will increase the effect on the team or the individual; sharing the impact of the action is key.

Giving feedback in this way also helps if something is not going well. Remain objective, feedback at the time and share the impact, then open the discussion as to what could be done differently next time. Never assume why someone did something, and always allow the two-way discussion after any constructive feedback.

Giving consistent, frequent, and constructive feedback, with a clear impact will help the team grow and learn and understand they’re making a difference with their efforts to ‘go green’.

Sharing experiences

Finally, don’t forget to share what you’ve been doing as a team. This instils a sense of pride, being proud of your efforts and achievements. It’s important for our clients or customers to be aware of the considerations we’re making as well. Sustainability is a value many of them share.

There are some brilliant case studies on the Vet Sustain website to get ideas and inspiration. The Greener Veterinary Practice Checklist also gives you the key areas to review.