Environmental health nursing assessment tools for the home environment

It has been estimated that Americans spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors. This number is possibly even higher for sub-populations such as infants, the elderly and those people living with disabilities. Human exposure to pollutants has been shown to be influenced by both outdoor and indoor air pollution. Home environmental health risks and the pollution of indoor residential air are becoming increasingly recognized as sources of injury and exacerbation of illness, particularly in vulnerable populations such as pregnant women, infants, children, the elderly, and those living with a chronic medical condition or disability. Individual level factors such as household activities, economic resources, and knowledge of the effects of indoor pollution on health, and can directly impact the quality of the air inside the home and thus the health of the residents who live there. Nurses who visit their patient's homes can play a key role in assessment of home environmental health risks and in providing families with ways to minimize these risks. This session will provide an overview of tools that are available for nurses to assess environmental health risks in the home and the use of these tools to decrease risks.