Unit 6: Healthcare Waste Management

Prayer Before Class

• A prayer is offered before class, invoking the Holy Spirit.
• The prayer requests guidance and wisdom for understanding, learning, and expressing oneself.
• The prayer is offered through Jesus Christ, and seeks successful completion of the work.
• The prayer ends with "Amen."

Unit 6: Healthcare Waste Management

• This unit covers healthcare waste management within the Principles of Medical Technology Practice 1.
• Key topics include definitions, classifications, and management systems for healthcare wastes.

Outline

• Part I: Focuses on healthcare wastes, including definitions, categories, and impacts.
• Part II: Covers healthcare waste management systems, including reuse, recovery, recycling, and relevant legal issues and regulatory agencies.

Learning Outcome

• Students must be able to classify biomedical and hazardous wastes.
• Students must be able to explain proper healthcare waste management processes.

Healthcare Wastes

• 75-90% of wastes produced in healthcare settings are non-hazardous.
• 10-25% of healthcare wastes are considered hazardous and could be infectious, toxic, or radioactive.
• High-income countries generate higher volumes of healthcare waste (0.5 kg/bed/day).
• Low-income countries generate lower volumes (0.2 kg/bed/day), and proper segregation of hazardous and non-hazardous wastes is often less well-implemented.

Healthcare Waste Generators

• Category 1: Hospitals and medical centers, infirmaries, birthing homes
• Category 2: Clinics and other health-related facilities
  • Medical, ambulatory, dialysis, healthcare centers & dispensaries, surgical, alternative medicine, dental, veterinary
• Category 3: Laboratories & research centers
  • Medical & biomedical labs, medical research centers, blood banks and blood collection services, dental prosthetic labs, nuclear medicine labs, biotechnology labs, animal research & testing labs, HIV testing labs
• Category 4: Drug manufacturers, institutions
  • Drug rehabilitation centers, training centers for embalmers, medical technology internship training centers, medical schools, schools of radiologic technology, nursing homes, dental schools
• Category 5: Mortuary & autopsy centers

Categories of Healthcare Wastes

• Hazardous: Sharps, infectious, pathological, anatomical, pharmaceutical, genotoxic, chemical, radioactive, pressurized containers
• Non-Hazardous (General): Recyclable, biodegradable, residual materials

Infectious Waste

• Infectious waste contains pathogens potentially harmful to susceptible hosts.
• Examples include cultures and stocks of pathogens from labs, wastes from surgical procedures or autopsies on infected patients, wastes from isolation wards, or wastes from infected patients undergoing hemodialysis.
• Also includes infected animals from research labs or materials that have had contact with infected individuals/animals.

Pathological and Anatomical Waste

• Pathological waste includes tissues, fluids, or organs from biopsies, autopsies, or surgeries.
• Special anatomical waste refers to recognizable body parts from procedures like amputations.
• An example includes internal organs for histopathological examination.

Sharps

• Sharps are waste items that can cause cuts, pricks, or puncture wounds.
• This is the most dangerous healthcare waste due to injury causing potential.
• Examples include needles, syringes, scalpels, saws, blades, broken glass, and knives.

Chemical Waste

• Chemical waste comes from discarded solids, liquids, and gases used in diagnostics/experiments or for cleaning/housekeeping.
• Examples include lab reagents, X-ray film developing solutions, disinfectants/soaking solutions, used batteries, concentrated ammonia, peroxide, chlorine, and mercury.
• Hazardous chemical wastes may have toxic, corrosive, flammable, or reactive properties, which lead to potential health and environmental risks.

Pharmaceutical Waste

• Pharmaceutical waste comprises expired, contaminated, or split pharmaceutical products, drugs, vaccines, or sera.
• Examples include bottles, vials, boxes, residue, gloves, masks, and tubing used to handle pharmaceuticals.

Genotoxic and Cytotoxic Waste

• Highly hazardous waste with mutagenic, teratogenic, or carcinogenic properties
• Examples are urine, feces, vomit potentially contaminated with cytotoxic drugs/their metabolites or antineoplastic/cytotoxic drugs.

Radioactive Waste

• Radioactive waste contains radionuclides, like radioactive diagnostic materials or radiotherapy material residues.
• Contains liquids, gases, and contaminated solids emitting ionizing radiations harmful to the environment.
• Examples include cobalt, technetium, iodine, irradiated blood products, contaminated wastes within 48 hours of contact with radionuclides

Non-Hazardous or General Waste

• This waste poses no contamination risk from infectious agents, hazardous chemicals, or radioactivity.
• It does not pose a threat to health or the environment.
• Examples include recyclable waste, biodegradable materials (kitchen waste from patient meals, leftover food waste, flowers, garden waste that can be composted).
• It also encompasses any residual waste that doesn't meet the other classification criteria.

Recyclable General Waste

• Recyclable waste includes paper products, aluminium, plastics, glass, and wood materials.

Biodegradable General Waste

• Examples encompass kitchen waste (food scraps), patient leftover foods (items with non-communicable diseases), flowers, and garden waste (compost friendly).

Impact of Healthcare Wastes

• Staff, patients, and visitors of healthcare facilities may face health risks due to healthcare wastes' improper handling.
• Waste disposal in environmentally unsound ways can also negatively affect the larger population.

Adverse Health Outcomes

• Injuries from sharps and toxic exposures from chemicals and pharmaceuticals are potential adverse health outcomes.
• Improper waste disposal methods could contribute to environmental and health problems.
• Alternatives to incineration, like autoclaving, microwaving, or steam treatment, are safer disposal methods.

Benefits of Proper Healthcare Waste Management

• Protecting patients, health workers, and the general population.
• Increasing environmental protection and worldwide efforts.
• Preventing long-term liabilities for healthcare institutions
• Adherence to healthcare guidelines and laws regarding waste management.

Assignment

• Students need to answer specific pages from a textbook ("Principles of Medical Laboratory Science 1" by Benitez).
• The deadline for submission is November 26, 2024, at 12:00 noon.

References

• Included for citation. (List of authors, titles, publisher, and links)

This quiz focuses on healthcare waste management as part of the Principles of Medical Technology Practice 1. It covers definitions, classifications, and management systems for healthcare wastes, including legal and regulatory aspects. Students will learn to classify biomedical and hazardous wastes effectively.