HEALTH CARE WASTE MANAGEMENT

The information in this article will be based on an health issue which is the Health Care Waste
Management. The information will be more elaborate in the paragraphs. Research Interview was about
the topic mentioned above but, it more specifically about the routine of waste disposal in each week
from different wards or units to the disposal site, the types of waste within the area, and also the types
of waste disposal which was practice in West New Britain Provincial Hospital. Waste Management is
vital in nursing practice as it helps to reduce the dangerous effects of waste on the environment and
human health. Health Issues can be arise indirectly or directly through the handling of solid wastes, and
indirectly through the consumption of water, soil, and food.

As mentioned, the research interview was done at West New Britain Provincial Hospital. The hospital is
located at the town and the nursing staff houses was built at the back of it and police barracks were on
the other side. It is the only hospital in the province and it does receives referrals from health centre all
around the province. The research was done with the officer in charge of the Infection Control
department and was in and around the hospital environment. The research was purposely to find out
how the waste was dispose, the methods practice use for the disposal of waste and the routine of
disposal. The research that was done is a Qualitative research. It is a systematic approach used to
describe experience and situation from the perspective of the situation.

The health care management was started in the hospital when it was newly opened and they still
practice because it is a vital part of nursing or health practice. Waste management includes the process
and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. These includes the
collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitoring and regulation of the
waste management process and waste – related laws, technologies, and economic mechanisms. Waste
can be solid, liquid, or gases and its type has different methods of disposal and management. Waste
management deals with all types of waste including industrial, biological, house hold, organic,
biomedical, radioactive waste. In some cases, waste can pose a threat to human health. Health issues
are associated with the entire process of waste management.

There are different types of waste that can be manage but here in the hospital, they have two types of
waste that they manage. There are: general waste ( household) and medical waste (biomedical ) . So
general waste is a material that produced by households. It includes materials such as non- recycled
plastics, polythene, some packaging and kitchen scraps, etc. Secondly, Biomedical waste or medical
waste is any waste containing infectious or potentially infectious material. These wastes are generated
during the diagnosis, treatment, and immunization of human. Biomedical waste can be in both solid and
liquid forms. Some examples of biomedical wastes includes; waste sharps such as needles, lancets,
syringe, scalpels, and broken glass. Human tissue or identified body parts ( as a result of amputation),
used bandage, dressing, gloves and other medical supplies and laboratory waste.

The types of waste disposal consists of five methods which includes Burial, Incineration, Recycling,
Landfill and open pit( burning). Unfortunately, in the hospital they did not use all five methods of
disposal. They only use four which are; incineration, burial, landfill and recycling which was newly
introduced.
Incineration is the process of burning hazardous Materials at temperatures high enough to destroy
Contaminants. Incineration is conducted in an “incinerator,” which is a type of furnace designed for
Burning hazardous materials in a combustion chamber. Many different types of hazardous materials can
be Treated by incineration, including soil, sludge, liquids, and gases. The length of time the waste is
heated in the combustion chamber: Typically, solid wastes Must be heated for 30 to 90 minutes, while
liquid And gaseous wastes may only require 2 seconds.

Incineration of all waste at a site might take a few weeks To several years. The actual clean up time will
depend on Several factors. For example, it may take longer where: The amount of waste is large,
requiring more time, To excavate or pump out. The waste contains large rocks or debris that must be
removed before incineration. The capacity of the incinerator is small. These factors vary from site to site.
The example of waste that they use incinerator to dispose is Biomedical waste.

Biomedical waste is one example of such a waste disposal method. It is primarily practiced in health care
facilities and similar institutions. The special waste disposal system effectively disposes of hazardous
biomedical waste. The biggest advantage of this type of method is that it can reduce the volume of solid
waste to 20 to 30 percent of the original volume.

Burial is a disposal method where earth moving equipment pushes the waste to the bottom of the
working face or into an excavated hole immediately covers with earth or other waste materials. Burial
pits are useful for disposing of sharps, body parts, and expired medicines. Try not to fill waste pits with
materials that can be composted (such as food waste), reused (some glass and plastic materials), or put
in a landfill after disinfection (plastics, cloth, bandages).

For a waste pit to be safe, it should be located downhill from nearby wells, in an area where the
groundwater is not near the surface, and at least 50 meters from rivers, streams, springs, and other
water sources. Pit sides and bottoms should be lined with clay to prevent liquids from passing into the
soil and groundwater. The pit should be well-marked and have a fence around it to keep people and
animals out. As for the hospital here in West New Britain they burry those biomedical waste new a river
which flows besides the hospital.

Landfill is the throwing daily waste/garbage in the landfills is the most popularly used method of waste
disposal used today. This process of waste disposal focuses attention on burying the waste in the land.
There is a process used that eliminates the odors and dangers of waste before it is placed into the
ground. While it is true this is the most popular form of waste disposal, it is certainly far from the only
procedure and one that may also bring with it an assortment of space.

General Waste is an example of waste that they disposed using landfill method.

The disadvantage of landfill is it give rise to air and water pollution which severely affects the
environment and can prove fatal to the lives of humans and animals.

Recycling is the process of converting waste products into new products to prevent energy usage and
consumption of fresh raw materials. Recycling is the third component of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
waste hierarchy. The idea behind recycling is to reduce energy usage, reduce the volume of landfills,
reduce air and water pollution, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and preserve natural resources for
future use.
As going through the research interview, I found out that waste management is one part of practice that
nurses must also do to which, it may help them reduce infection in their daily lives and also for their
patients. Instead of only giving treatments, diagnosing, and any other nursing care, they have to help
also in help managing waste. The types of waste disposal is now well understood and also have clearly
known where to dispose those waste. The type of waste disposal method to use as to dispose those
waste and each routine of disposal. There are also something that the infection control board has to do.
He has to do proper waste management plan for his staff to follow. As for the past years, the hospital
has no proper planning.

Staffs at the hospital does not dispose their waste to the right rubbish bin, which mean the infection
team as to give awareness. Lack of awareness about the health hazards related to health-care waste,
inadequate training in proper waste management, absence of waste management and disposal systems,
insufficient financial and human resources and the low priority given to the topic are the most common
problems connected with health-care waste.