Waste management in non-hospital emergency units

Authors

  • Milca Severino Pereira Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás
  • Sergiane Bisinoto Alves Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás
  • Adenicia Custódia Silva e Souza Universidade Federal de Goiás; Faculdade de Enfermagem
  • Anaclara Ferreira Veiga Tipple Universidade Federal de Goiás; Faculdade de Enfermagem
  • Fabiana Ribeiro de Rezende Universidade Federal de Goiás; Faculdade de Enfermagem
  • Érika Goulart Rodrigues Universidade Federal de Goiás; Faculdade de Enfermagem

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-11692013000700032

Keywords:

Medical Waste, Waste Management, Nursing

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: to analyze waste management in urgency and emergency non-hospital health care service units. METHOD: Epidemiological cross-sectional study undertaken at three Non-Hospital Emergency Units. The data were collected using systematic observation, registered daily in a spreadsheet and checklist, and analyzed through descriptive statistics. RESULTS: the generation of waste varied from 0.087 to 0.138 kg per patient per day. Waste management showed inadequacies in all stages, especially in the separation stage. Infectious waste was found together with common waste, preventing recycling, and piercing and cutting objects were mixed with waste from different groups, increasing the risk of occupational accidents. CONCLUSION: the study reveals the lack of an institutional waste management policy, as demonstrated by the failure of operational stages, involving problems related to management, physical structure, material and human resources at the units. This is relevant for health care units, considering the quality of patient care and its interface with sustainability.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2013-02-01

Issue

Vol. 21 (2013): special issue

Section

Original Articles

License

RLAE’s authorship concept is based on the substantial contribution by each of the individuals listed as authors, mainly in terms of conceiving and planning the research project, collecting or analyzing and interpreting data, writing and critical review. Indication of authors’ names under the article title is limited to six. If more, authors are listed on the online submission form under Acknowledgements. The possibility of including more than six authors will only be examined on multicenter studies, considering the explanations presented by the authors.
Including names of authors whose contribution does not fit into the above criteria cannot be justified. Those names can be included in the Acknowledgements section.
 Authors are fully responsible for the concepts disseminated in their manuscripts, which do not necessarily reflect the editors’ and editorial board’s opinion.

 

How to Cite

Waste management in non-hospital emergency units . (2013). Revista Latino-Americana De Enfermagem, 21(spe), 259-266. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-11692013000700032