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PubMed1986

Hospitals and hazardous wastes.

Much attention surrounds the volatile subject of hazardous waste management in our society--What is it? What can/should we do about it? How should we pay for it? What happens when these wastes are mismanaged? Experience shows that in hospitals: (1) There is a great deal of confusion and misinformation about the extent of responsibility for hazardous waste disposal; and (2) There are direct violations of regulations ranging from minor administrative infractions to ones that seriously threaten the environment and human life. This article examines the confusion surrounding the management of hazardous waste by hospitals and offers some management guidance.

Hospital Administration↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Disposal of sharps: implications and control.

This paper describes the current federal and state regulations governing disposal of "sharps" by health care facilities. Recent data on the implications of exposure to waste containing sharps are summarized, and appropriate methods for sharps disposal are outlined. Three institutions are cited as examples of the costs associated with implementation of a sharps disposal system.

Health Facilities↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Description of the "new" intensive care unit of the Valladolid Río Hortega Hospital].

The unit described herein forms part of the Rio Hortega Hospital in Valladolid (Spain) and is situated on the third floor. The building houses several medical and surgical specialities and has been renovated several times; the latest renovations have involved technical and structural renovation of the Intensive Care Unit. The new intensive care unit was inaugurated in February 1998 due to new technical and medical requirements. The aim of improving medical care and the degree of satisfaction among patients and their families has been achieved and the work environment is more congenial and peaceful. The unit is composed of two areas: the multipurpose intensive care unit and the cardiology intensive care unit, edowed with the same monitoring system and apparatus specific to each. Moreover, the unit is composed of an administration area, storerooms and an area for common services (a room for the cleaning of material, waste disposal, lavatories, etc.). The medical team is composed of (a) medical staff-seven staff doctors and five residents; (b) nursing staff: 18 nurses and 13 nurse's aides in the multipurpose Intensive Care Unit; 13 nurses and 8 nurse's aides in the cardiology intensive care unit: one supervisor common to both units; administrative staff: one secretary; one security guard and one cleaner. The distribution of nursing work depends on workload reflected in the patient's daily chart, protocols, nursing care plans and follow-up sheets for the nursing team. Visiting hours are divided between the morning and afternoon and information is given to the patient's relatives by the doctor before the visit. The hospital has three catholic priests who periodically visit the patients. We also try to help when the patients profess other religious faith. The type of patients who are cared for in the unit as well as their distribution according to condition, severity, death, etc, is shown in figures: the data correspond to the period from January 1 1998 to August 1 1999.

Chaplaincy Service, Hospital↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Hazardous waste disposal and the clinical laboratory.

Negligent, unregulated hazardous waste management has resulted in real and potential threats to public health and safety. The federal government has responded with laws and regulations aimed at the producers of hazardous waste, including clinical laboratories. Clinical laboratory managers must understand how the requirements apply to their facilities and how to comply with them, or risk violating the law. The Resources Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) imposes controls on hazardous waste management through the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) regulate these activities through 40 CFR and 49 CFR, respectively. 49 CFR specifies the characteristics of hazardous waste and lists more than 400 toxic chemicals, including several commonly used in clinical laboratories. Laboratories must conduct chemical inventories to determine if they should obtain an EPA identification number as a hazardous waste generator. Most clinical laboratories can operate satellite accumulation points and accumulate, store, transport, and dispose of waste in accordance with EPA and DOT regulations. Regulations pertaining to infectious waste, sure to affect many clinical laboratories, are being developed now by the EPA. The tracking system mandated by the federal government can be supplemented by state and local authorities and poses a significant regulatory challenge to clinical laboratory managers.

Facility Regulation and Control↗
PubMed1990

Wisconsin's infectious waste regulations.

The infectious waste handling and treatment rules and guidelines create a system where potentially infectious waste is carefully disposed of from the place where the waste is generated to the landfill where the waste in its disinfected form is finally deposited. Although many of the above-described regulations and guidelines regarding storage, collection and handling do apply, offices are exempt from the transportation licensing requirement if they generate less than 50 lbs a month. The DNR and DHSS retain the authority to enact emergency rules to correct problems of non-compliance.

Communicable Diseases↗
PubMed1987

Waste disposal tangled by liability and conflicting regulations.

In this issue HMM examines the problem of trash disposal. What are hospitals doing with their wastes? In many areas landfills are either running out of space or increasingly unwilling to accept hospital wastes. The next HMM Price Exclusive will survey the prices materials managers are paying for wound closures. Read the next HMM Price Exclusive and see what kinds of contracts and deals materials managers are getting for these important supplies.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.↗
PubMed1990

[Refuse disposal at the hospital].

For the classification of hospital-wastes in the categories infectious-contaminate or special waste are only significant views of the prevention by nosocomial infection in the hospital. Solely infectious waste become removed hospital-intern and -extern on conditions of hygienic prevention, namely through secure packing during the transport, combustion or desinfection. Special wastes to be defeated by special-conditions. The hygienist of the hospital is only competent for the classification of the wastes in the hospital as well as for their refuse.

Communicable Disease Control↗
PubMed2000

[Present status of nosocomial infections and biohazard of medical waste].

Nosocomial infections are already major problems and are a growing concern to all medical staff and among the general public. Therefore, an effective infection control program, especially against transmission mode of infection, is essential for the well-being of the patients and the safety of hospital personnel. Various categories of medical waste should be segregated adequately and appropriate management(treatment and disposal) is necessary. Adequate handling techniques can protect personnel from injury(occupational infection), and the biosafety manual should be available to prevent injury.

Containment of Biohazards↗
PubMed1993

Impact of repackaging hazardous (infectious) hospital waste on the indoor air quality of a hospital.

With landfill bans on the disposal of hazardous (infectious) hospital wastes, many hospitals in the United States are faced with selecting alternative means of disposal. One alternative method of disposal is to repackage the waste and ship it off site for incineration. This paper reports on a study in which airborne bacteria were sampled in an area where waste was repackaged. Results of the sampling showed bacteria concentrations ranging from not detectable (central supply room) to 105 colonies/m3 air (approximately 40 feet from the incinerator room door). This would seem to indicate that the source of the bacteria was at or near the incinerator room door where the repackaging operation took place. Although some human pathogens were identified, most of the bacteria identified do not represent a serious health threat. However, Staphylococcus aureus was found in air samples collected from locations in the hospital served by the same ventilation system in the area of the repackaging operation. The waste handling practices used in hospitals need to be reevaluated, and the definition of 'sick building syndrome' needs to be expanded beyond chemicals to include microorganisms. More research is needed to characterize bacteria in air and to determine the impact of airborne bacteria on human health.

Air Microbiology↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Medical waste: reducing its generation.

1. Materials that can be recycled have yet to be proven to be a more cost-effective means of reducing medical waste. The literature indicates that the efficacy of reusable textiles is at least equal to that of some disposables--and reusable items reduce the generation of blood-contaminated waste. 2. The perioperative nursing community should consider replacing single-use items with materials intended for multiple uses. 3. "Source reduction" entails the replacement of single-use items with reusable items. Successful source-reduction programs require changes in individual and collective behavior patterns. 4. Recycling of materials renders them suitable for another use in a product similar to that in which they were originally used. On the other hand, reprocessing is an all-descriptive term of what must be done to an item to render it suitable for another identical use.

Disposable Equipment↗
PubMed1982

Codes of practice.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Housekeeping, Hospital↗
PubMed1989

Emission of viable bacteria in the exhaust flue gases from a hospital incinerator.

The exhaust gases from an oil-fired hospital waste incinerator were examined during normal incinerator operation. The design-specified operating temperature was 800 degrees C in the primary combustion chamber and 1000 degrees C in the secondary chamber. Flue gas temperatures, measured from the sampling point at the base of the exhaust stack, varied over the range 186-305 degrees C, and bacteria were recovered from this position in numbers up to 400 cfu m-3 (mean 56 cfu m-3). No sampling was performed at the top of the stack where flue gases were discharged to the atmosphere. Isolates were predominantly gram positive, i.e. Bacillus spp., coagulase negative staphylococci and Staphylococcus aureus, although low numbers of gram negative species (Pseudomonas fluorescens and other pseudomonads) were also recovered. Our results suggest that incineration may not constitute an absolute method of sterilization for clinical waste.

Air Pollutants↗