Lesson 11: HEALTH CARE WASTE MANAGEMENT Flashcards
Refers to ALL SOLID OR LIQUID WASTES
Health Care 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
Health Care Generators
- Suspected to contain pathogens or toxins
- Discarded materials or equipment used for diagnosis, treatment and
management of patients with infectious diseases
Infectious Waste
- 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
Pathological & Anatomical Waste
- 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
Sharps
- 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
Chemical Waste
- 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
Pharmaceutical Waste
- 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
Radioactive Waste
- 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
Non-hazardous or General Waste
What are the kinds of health care waste management system?
Green Procurement Policy, Resource Development, End of pipe
- Minimizing waste before it’s generated by choosing eco-friendly products and services
Waste prevention
- Involves decreasing waste at the source through practices like proper segregation to manage waste efficiently and affordably
Waste reduction
finding a new application for a used material/using the same product for the same application repeatedly
Reusing
processing of used materials into new products
Recycling
waste is converted to fuel for generating electricity
Energy recovery
recycling, composting, energy recovery
Waste recovery
for wastes that cannot be safely reused, recycled or recovered
End of pipe
changing the biological and chemical characteristics of waste to minimize its potential to cause harm
Treatment
discharging, depositing, placing or releasing any health care waste into air, land or water
Disposal
Is the process of separating different types of waste at the point of generation until their final disposal
Segregation
Kills all microorganisms
Sterilization
Reduces the level of microorganisms
Disinfection
Thermal decomposition of health care wastes in the absence of supplied molecular oxygen in the destruction chamber – converted into gaseous, liquid or solid form
Pyrolysis
greasy aggregates or slugs, recoverable metals, carbon black
Waste residues
