Medical waste disposal is the biggest day to day challenge. Faced by healthcare providers. This is often complicated by other concerns. Such as state and local regulation, epidemiology, and civil litigation. They aim to help providers become better providers. They are taking a look at the key concepts around hazardous waste disposal.
Medical waste contains infectious material. This includes waste generated by healthcare facilities. Like hospitals, clinics, dental practices, laboratories, physicians’ offices, medical research, and veterinary clinics. It includes the following:
- Human or animal tissues during the procedures
- Cultures of infectious agents or diseases
- Soaked in blood like gauze, gowns, and gloves
- Discarded vaccines
This can contain fluids or other contaminants. This is defined as waste generated. During the medical research, diagnosis, testing, and treatment of human beings. Some are culture glassware, gloves, dishes, discarded sharps. Such as scalpels, swabs, needles, and tissue.
Different names for medical waste
This goes by several names that have the same basic definition. All the terms refer to waste created during the healthcare process that contaminates.
- Medical Waste
- Clinical Waste
- Biohazardous Waste
- Biomedical Waste
- Healthcare Waste
- Regulated Medical Waste
- Infectious Medical Waste
Used to have a distinction between general healthcare waste and hazardous medical waste. The World Health Organization categorizes human tissue, fluids, sharps, and contaminated supplies. Such as hazardous and non-contaminated equipment. And animal tissue as general medical waste. The office paper, kitchen waste, and sweeping waste from the healthcare facilities. It can still be medical waste. Although it is not regulated and not hazardous in nature.
Types of Medical Waste
This term can cover a variety of different by-products in the healthcare industry. This definition can include hospital sweeping waste and office paper. Here is the list that displays the most common waste categories:
- Infectious Waste includes tissues, equipment, lab cultures, swabs, and excreta.
- Radioactive waste generally means the unused radiotherapy liquid or lab research liquid. It also consists of any glassware. And other supplies that contaminate with this liquid.
- Sharps include anything that can prick the skin. It includes scalpels, needles, razors, broken glass, staples, wires, ampules, trocars, and lancets.
- Pharmaceuticals include unused, expired, and other contaminated vaccines and drugs. Such as injectables, pills, and antibiotics.
- Chemicals are the disinfectants, solvents used for laboratory purposes. Heavy metals from medical equipment, batteries such as mercury from the broken thermometers.
- Pathology this waste is human fluid, blood, body parts, fluids, and contaminated animals.
- General Non-regulated medical waste is also called non-hazardous waste. This type does not post any particular biological, chemical, physical, or radioactive danger.
Genotoxic Waste this is a hazardous form of medical waste. This is either teratogenic, mutagenic, or carcinogenic. It includes cytotoxic drugs that intend for use in cancer treatment.
