Claire Thompson '08

Environmental Health Strategy Center of Maine
  Maine Dartmouth Family Medical Institute
    Augusta, Maine  

January 2008  

My month-long internship was spent researching an area of concern in environmental public health under the guidance of the organizing director of EHSC and the clinical education specialist at MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta. My internship responsibilites entailed conducting a study that focused on the type of plastics Maine hospitals are using for disposable medical products with a specific focus on intravenous (IV) bags and tubing. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is the standard material used to make IV bags and tubes. PVC contains the plasticizer DEHP, which is a pthalate. Pthalates are a toxic chemical because they have endocrin-disrupting effects that may lead to reproductive complications or sterility. Assessing the current usage of DEHP-containing PVC in hospitals will allow future studies or actions to focus on getting cost-effective alternative plastics into Maine hospitals.

As an intern, I was asked to design a study to address the current status of PVC usage that included designing a PVC survey to distribute to the thirty-nine hospitals in Maine; assessing the data obtained from the surveys to evaluate the general knowledge about the implications of using PVC; and writing a report that outlined the current state of PVC usage in Maine hospitals. In addition conducting the survey, I attended lectures and shadowed doctors and medical students at MaineGeneral Medical Center and Maine Dartmouth/UNE Family Medical Institute in Augusta to learn how and to what extent plastics and hospitals are used in a hospital and clinical setting.

I learned a great deal about environmental public health from a clinical and a policy perspective. Through my conversations with various hospital personnel and my directors, literature reviews, and observation of practical application of plastic products, I learned how information disseminates and that the most effective method of changing a bureacracy is through grassroots initiatives. By being in a hospital setting and observing the relative importance of using green medical products as a doctor who is working on a critically-ill patient or as an administrator constrained by a relatively limited budget, I was able to understand why it is important that hospitals work with NGOs like EHSC and manufacturing companies to acheive common goals that will result in more sustainable and long-term health in the population.