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Background: A national survey revealed that 30% of the public have some sensitivity to fragrances and 27% of asthmatics note that their conditions are aggravated (Flegel & Martin, 2015). Fragrance is often used as a general term to describe the concoction of chemicals that are thought to give a product a “natural smelling scent.” An example of this is found in hospitals when they use fragrances to mute or control odor, given that hospitals house concentrated populations of the unwell individuals. However this poses an issue, particularly with individuals who have asthma. Therefore, hospital and employees alike must be required to adhere to a fragrance-free policy. To ensure that patients are provided with the best care, this policy must be implemented in order to mitigate or eradicate any additional external stressors that may impede recovery or trigger unwanted asthma attacks.

Policy: Effective January 2019, the fragrance-free hospital policy will require all patient areas within the hospital to use fragrance-free odor control maintenance and staff to refrain from using any scented products (e.g., perfumes, colognes, lotions, sunscreen, strong-scented shampoos/conditioners/aftershave, etc.) especially for employees providing direct patient care to very vulnerable patients like young children. Upon hire, new employees are required to sign an agreement noting the above. Established employees will receive a memo, but not need to participate in any official training. However, new employees will be reminded during orientation training. Additionally, there will be signs placed strategically at all entrances and staff break rooms and locker rooms to promote the fragrance-free policy. Managers will play a direct role in implementing and enforcing this policy, will need to communicate this new policy to employees, and will make sure any questions/concerns are addressed as appropriate.

Impact: A fragrance-free policy will eliminate the hazards scented products pose and reduce chemical exposures on the user and one’s community, may that be in a hospital setting or other public settings. As previously learned, most fragrances are man-made and use chemicals that are considered pollutants and are hazardous to one’s health. 

Using the EWG’s database, some personal care products, such as perfumes and colognes have concerns with: allergies/immunotoxicity, irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs), organ system toxicity (non-reproductive), ecotoxicology. Even though a product may score a lower number, the fragrance alone may pose a threat to allergies or irritation to skin, eyes, or lungs. For this reason, it is important to reduce or limit the use of scented personal care products when working in public environments, including hospitals.


Reference
Flegel, K., & Martin, J. G. (2015). Artificial scents have no place in our hospitals. CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association Journal, 187(16), 1187. http://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.151097

Comments

  1. JudyJudeSeptember 20, 2018 at 12:27 PM

    Having signs placed strategically at all entrances and staff break rooms and locker rooms is a great reminder of the fragrance-free policy and it reinforces the cause.

    ReplyDelete

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