Intervention program for waste management in healthcare services

Abstract

Hospitals are great waste generators, due to the diversity of activities carried out inside these companies. Depending on the type of hospital waste, we can choose different types of waste treatment, therefore taking advantage of the opportunity to recycle. This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of an intervention program for waste management in a public hospital in the city of Palmas, Tocantins.This is an analytic cause-effect study, comprising of a descriptive statistic analysis which compares the before and after intervention by means of weighing the waste. As a result, in the first month of waste collection, 13,298.37 kg of waste was weighed, from which, 17% were classified as infectious and 83% as common waste. After the implementation of the intervention program, the waste was weighed again for thirty days and a reduction of 3.75% (12,799.44 kg) in the amount of waste was observed, even though the number of patients treated had increased in comparison to the previous weight measurement. Of those, 17% remained as infectious, 42% as general waste and 41% as recyclable, which is equivalent to over 5,200 kg of reusable waste. Statistics were analyzed by t-test (p = 0.0294), which confirms the reduction. The intervention program was highly effective, with the kitchen being the sector with the greatest potential for recycling, followed by the pharmacy. Organic waste was the most reused taken the weight into consideration, followed by cardboard. The gains through this program are educational, economic, social and environmental.

Keywords: Waste Management. Recycling. Hospital Waste.