Healthcare Waste Management Practices and Associated Factors in Private Clinics in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Economic evaluation of hazardous healthcare waste treatment systems

The cost estimation and assessment of healthcare waste treatment systems (HCWTSs) for preventing financial and environmental damage are essential. This work reports economic analyses of treatment of hazardous-infectious waste based on WHO approach in HCWTSS of 43 hospitals in Tehran, Iran. The waste generation rate for total hospital waste in 43 HCWTSS was 4.42 ± 2.77 kg/active-bed/day. The mean of chemical, sharps, infectious, and general wastes in 43 HCWTSS were 13.79 ± 19.71, 30.29 ± 37.46, 336.28 ± 291.31, and 539.6 ± 383.13 kg/day, respectively. Economic analyses proved that general hospitals spent 1.63 times more than specialized hospitals on treating hazardous-infectious waste per year. The annual cost of treating each kilogram of hazardous healthcare waste in studied HCWTSS was 0.3 dollars. A range of total annual costs in 43 HCWTSS was limited to 7.9-118 thousand dollars. The results of ANOVA test demonstrated that the age and performance levels of hospitals significantly affect the annual capital and operating costs, respectively. Hence, improving recycling knowledge and increasing source-separated recycling should be considered to control the costs in HCWTSS. The results of this work have implications for the hospital managers in especially developing countries to evaluate previously unknown economic analyses and policies and take action to control wasted costs in HCWTSS.

Knowledge, attitude, and perceived practice of sanitary workers on healthcare waste management: A descriptive cross-sectional study in Dodoma region,Tanzania

Introduction

Healthcare facilities produce a variety of trash that, if handled improperly, could endanger the environment, the health of patients and clients, healthcare personnel, and the general public. Health staff have been given training on infection control and healthcare waste management. It is not apparent whether similar initiatives are taken for sanitary personnel, though. By evaluating sanitary workers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices about healthcare waste treatment in the Dodoma region of Tanzania, this study sought to clarify the situation.

Methods

From March to August 2022 in Dodoma, Tanzania, a descriptive cross-sectional study using a quantitative methodology was conducted on 156 randomly chosen sanitary workers. The primary data collection instruments were structured questionnaires that were conducted by interviewers and a trash checklist that the research team created. Statistical Package for Social Sciences computer software was used to conduct a descriptive analysis of the data with a 95% confidence level and a 5% level of significance.

Results

The average age was 28 ± 6.2 years, and there were 74.4% females. Of all of the health institutions under study, 78.4% of the generated medical waste was non-infectious, whereas 21.6% of it was infectious. The share of non-infectious and infectious healthcare waste created by regional referral hospitals was 43.5% and 13.2%, respectively. While 67.8% of sanitary workers believed that handling healthcare waste was not their problem and 63.6% of sanitary workers actually displayed subpar practices of handling healthcare waste, 74.4% of sanitary workers had low understanding about handling healthcare waste. Their procedures for handling medical waste were substantially influenced by the kind of healthcare facility, sex, education, job experience, knowledge, and attitude (p < 0.05).

Conclusion

Sanitary staff members had limited understanding and thought they were less concerned with gathering, moving, and storing medical waste. To provide the highest level of health safety, national health policy and facility-based interventions must support and fund participatory waste management training that is tailored to the sociodemographic profiles of sanitary employees.

Healthcare Waste Segregation Practice and Associated Factors among Healthcare Professionals Working in Public and Private Hospitals, Dire Dawa, Eastern Ethiopia

Background

The key to the effective management of healthcare wastes is the segregation of the waste at the point of generation; no matter what final strategy for the treatment and disposal of wastes is selected, it is critical that waste streams are separated.

Objective

The aim of the study is to assess the practice of healthcare waste segregation and associated factors among healthcare workers at public and private hospitals in Dire Dawa, Eastern Ethiopia.

Methods

An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 280 healthcare workers from public and private hospitals. Data were collected through self-administered structured questionnaires and observation checklists. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression were used to identify factors associated with the practice of healthcare workers using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 25.

Results

This study showed that 56.4% (95% CI: 43.7-60.2) study participants had good healthcare waste segregation practices. Working in a public hospital (AOR = 0.09, 95% CI: (0.03-0.23)), working less than 40 hours a week (AOR = 4.28, 95% CI: (2.11-8.68)), adequate knowledge on healthcare waste management (AOR = 2.42, 95% CI: (1.27-4.61)), ever trained on waste management ((AOR = 2.74, 95% CI: (1.15-6.53)), the presence of guidelines, instructive posters on healthcare waste segregation ((AOR = 8.21, 95% CI: (3.84-17.55)), and availability of color-coded waste bins ((AOR = 9.53, 95% CI: (4.52-20.10)) were factors significantly associated with healthcare waste segregation practices.

Conclusion

The study revealed that healthcare waste segregation practices were unacceptably poor. It is very crucial to address the identified factors through ongoing enforcement of healthcare waste management rules and regulations, by providing training, instructive posters around the work area, and making color-coded bins available.

Healthcare Waste-A Serious Problem for Global Health

Healthcare waste (HCW) is generated in different healthcare facilities (HCFs), such as hospitals, laboratories, veterinary clinics, research centres and nursing homes. It has been assessed that the majority of medical waste does not pose a risk to humans. It is estimated that 15% of the total amount of produced HCW is hazardous and can be infectious, toxic or radioactive. Hazardous waste is a special type of waste which, if not properly treated, can pose a risk to human health and to the environment. HCW contains potentially harmful microorganisms that can be spread among healthcare personnel, hospital patients and the general public, causing serious illnesses. Healthcare personnel are the specialists especially exposed to this risk. The most common medical procedure, which pose the highest risk, is injection (i.e, intramuscular, subcutaneous, intravenous, taking blood samples). The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 16 billion injections are administered worldwide each year. However, if safety precautions are not followed, and needles and syringes are not properly disposed of, the risk of sharps injuries increases among medical staff, waste handlers and waste collectors. What is more, sharps injuries increase the risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV/HCV), tuberculosis (TB), diphtheria, malaria, syphilis, brucellosis and other transmissions. Disposing of medical waste in a landfill without segregation and processing will result in the entry of harmful microorganisms, chemicals or pharmaceuticals into soil and groundwater, causing their contamination. Open burning or incinerator malfunctioning will result in the emission of toxic substances, such as dioxins and furans, into the air. In order to reduce the negative impact of medical waste, waste management principles should be formulated. To minimize health risks, it is also important to build awareness among health professionals and the general public through various communication and educational methods. The aim of this paper is to present a general overwiev of medical waste, its categories, the principles of its management and the risks to human health and the environment resulting from inappropriate waste management.

A Review of the Impact That Healthcare Risk Waste Treatment Technologies Have on the Environment

Health-Care Risk Waste (HCRW) treatment protects the environment and lives. HCRW is waste from patient diagnostics, immunization, surgery, and therapy. HCRW must be treated before disposal since it pollutes, spreads illnesses, and causes harm. However, waste treatment increases the healthcare sector's carbon footprint, making the healthcare sector a major contributor to anthropogenic climate change. This is because treating HCRW pollutes the environment and requires a lot of energy. Treating HCRW is crucial, but its risks are not well-studied. Unintentionally, treating HCRW leads to climate change. Due to frequent climate-related disasters, present climate-change mitigation strategies are insufficient. All sectors, including healthcare, must act to mitigate and prevent future harms. Healthcare can reduce its carbon footprint to help the environment. All contributing elements must be investigated because healthcare facilities contribute to climate change. We start by evaluating the environmental impact of different HCRW treatment technologies and suggesting strategies to make treatments more sustainable, cost-effective, and reliable to lower the carbon footprint.

Impact of IoT on Achieving Smart Primary Healthcare Building Facilities in Gauteng, South Africa

Processes and services undertaken in smart primary healthcare building facilities capture operational data through advanced monitoring and enable experts to use these building facilities for efficient healthcare service delivery. This study assessed the impact of Internet of Things (IoT) services on achieving efficient primary healthcare in the rural areas of South Africa. The study identified three (3) basic constructs of IoT services. They include IoT location recognition and tracking services, the application of the IoT high-speed communication network-based services, and the application of IoT-based services. The study is quantitative, and a questionnaire was used to collect data from the project managers and healthcare practitioners working with the primary healthcare agency in South Africa. The study found a variable degree of impact between the three (3) IoT constructs and the successful development of primary healthcare building facility services in South Africa. The study recommends adopting IoT essential services for achieving efficient primary healthcare services in the rural areas of South Africa and other developing countries facing similar primary healthcare delivery challenges.

Identifying and Predicting Healthcare Waste Management Costs for an Optimal Sustainable Management System: Evidence from the Greek Public Sector

The healthcare sector is an ever-growing industry which produces a vast amount of waste each year, and it is crucial for healthcare systems to have an effective and sustainable medical waste management system in order to protect public health. Greek public hospitals in 2018 produced 9500 tons of hazardous healthcare wastes, and it is expected to reach 18,200 tons in 2025 and exceed 18,800 tons in 2030. In this paper, we investigated the factors that affect healthcare wastes. We obtained data from all Greek public hospitals and conducted a regression analysis, with the management cost of waste and the kilos of waste as the dependent variables, and a number of variables reflecting the characteristics of each hospital and its output as the independent variables. We applied and compared several models. Our study shows that healthcare wastes are affected by several individual-hospital characteristics, such as the number of beds, the type of the hospital, the services the hospital provides, the number of annual inpatients, the days of stay, the total number of surgeries, the existence of special units, and the total number of employees. Finally, our study presents two prediction models concerning the management costs and quantities of infectious waste for Greece's public hospitals and proposes specific actions to reduce healthcare wastes and the respective costs, as well as to implement and adopt certain tools, in terms of sustainability.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of health care waste management among Zambian health care workers

Poor management of health care waste poses a serious threat to the health of health care workers, patients and communities. In developing countries, adequate health care waste management (HCWM) is often a challenge. To address this, the Zambian Health Services Improvement Project with HCWM as a component, was implemented in five Zambian provinces (Luapula, Muchinga, Northern, North-Western and Western Provinces), under which this cross-sectional study was conducted to identify the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of health care workers on HCWM. Fifty government hospitals and health posts from five provinces in Zambia were included in the study. Data was collected using a mixed-methods approach, which included surveys with health care workers (n = 394), in-depth interviews (n = 47) with health officials at the provincial, district, and facility levels, and observational checklists (n = 86). Overall, knowledge of proper waste segregation was average (mean knowledge score 4.7/ 7). HCWM knowledge varied significantly by job position (p = 0.02) and not by facility level, years of service, nor prior training. Only 37.3% of respondents recalled having received any sort of HCWM training. Poor waste segregation practice was found as only 56.9% of the facilities used an infectious waste bag (yellow, red or orange bin liner) and a black bag for general waste. This study revealed that only 43% of facilities had a functional incinerator on site for infectious waste treatment. Needle sticks were alarmingly high with 31.3% of all respondents reporting a prior needle stick. The system of HCWM remains below national and international standards in health facilities in Zambia. It is imperative that all health care workers undergo comprehensive HCWM training and sufficient health care waste commodities are supplied to all health facility levels in Zambia.