Health and environment
Mohammad Nourmohammadi; Mohammad Reza Rezaee; Mohammad Hossein Sayyadi Anari
Volume 24, Issue 4 , July and August 2017, , Pages 293-298
Abstract
Background and purpose: Hospital waste contains microbial agents and chemical and toxic compounds that are hazardous to the health of patients, hospital personnel, and people visiting hospitals. Considering the presence of hazardous and infectious materials in hospital waste, it is essential that it ...
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Background and purpose: Hospital waste contains microbial agents and chemical and toxic compounds that are hazardous to the health of patients, hospital personnel, and people visiting hospitals. Considering the presence of hazardous and infectious materials in hospital waste, it is essential that it be managed suitably. This research intended to study hospital waste collection and disposal at teaching treatment centers of Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences in 2016.
Materials and methods: The present literature review on medical waste at Treatment-Teaching Centers of Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences was conducted in 2016. The initial raw quantitative data was received from the Waste Management Organization of Sabzevar Municipality. The guide issued by the World Health Organization was used to study the produced waste. Based on daily visits and completed questionnaires, the situation regarding disposed material with respect to type, collection method, storage, disposal and the degree of waste segregation at the three treatment-teaching centers were investigated. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by University Professors and its reliability by Cronbach’s alpha (that was 80%). Results were analyzed by using software (SPSS and Excel).
Results: The studied centers produced 869.5 kg of waste per day or 2.20 kg per occupied bed on average. Ordinary, infectious, chemical, pathological, sharp or pointed, pharmaceutical, and pressurized waste constituted 22%, 47.5%, 0.6%, 24.5%, 5%, 0.2%, and 0.2% of the total.
Conclusions: Results showed that hospital waste in Sabzevar was collected and disposed according to the circular of the Ministry of Health regarding hospital waste, waste management was supervised, and hospital waste collection and disposal was of desirable quality.