Lesson 11: HEALTH CARE WASTE MANAGEMENT

Refers to ALL SOLID OR LIQUID WASTES

All health care facilities, institutions, business establishments, and other spaces where health care services are offered with activities or work processes that generate health care wastes

• Suspected to contain pathogens or toxins • Discarded materials or equipment used for diagnosis, treatment and management of patients with infectious diseases

• Tissue sections and body fluids or organs derived from biopsies, autopsies, or surgical procedures sent to the laboratory for examination • Internal organs and tissues used for histopathological examinations

• Cause cuts, pricks or puncture wounds • Most dangerous health care waste because of their potential to cause both injury and infection • Used syringes in phlebotomy, blood lancets, surgical knives, and broken glasswares

• Discarded chemicals (solid, liquid or gas) generated during disinfection and sterilization procedures • Laboratory reagents, X-ray film developing solutions, disinfectants and soaking solutions, used batteries, concentrated ammonia solutions, concentrated hydrogen peroxide, chlorine and mercury from broken thermometers and sphygmomanometers

• Expired, split and contaminated pharmaceutical products, drugs and vaccines including discarded items used in handling pharmaceuticals • Antineoplastic, cytotoxic and genotoxic wastes such as drugs used in oncology • Empty drug vials, medicine bottles, containers of cytotoxic drugs, materials used for preparation & administration – syringes, needles, vials

• Wastes exposed to radionuclides including radioactive diagnostic materials or radiotherapeutic materials • Cobalt, technetium, iodine and iridium, irradiated blood products and contaminated waste, patients excretion, all materials used by patients exposed to radionuclides within 48 hours

• Waste that have not been in contact with communicable or infectious agents, hazardous chemicals, or radioactive substances and do not pose a hazard • Plastic bottles, used paper products, office wastes, scrap wood, food waste of non-infectious patients

What are the kinds of health care waste management system?

• Minimizing waste before it’s generated by choosing eco-friendly products and services

• Involves decreasing waste at the source through practices like proper segregation to manage waste efficiently and affordably

finding a new application for a used material/using the same product for the same application repeatedly

processing of used materials into new products

waste is converted to fuel for generating electricity

recycling, composting, energy recovery

for wastes that cannot be safely reused, recycled or recovered

changing the biological and chemical characteristics of waste to minimize its potential to cause harm

discharging, depositing, placing or releasing any health care waste into air, land or water

Is the process of separating different types of waste at the point of generation until their final disposal

Kills all microorganisms

Reduces the level of microorganisms

Thermal decomposition of health care wastes in the absence of supplied molecular oxygen in the destruction chamber – converted into gaseous, liquid or solid form

greasy aggregates or slugs, recoverable metals, carbon black