Essay Example on Sustainable Medical Waste Management: Cost and Benefits

Sustainability means meeting the current needs without compromising the ability of future generations also to meet their needs. The three pillars of sustainability include economic, political, and social (Stonemetz et al. 2011). Sustainability Initiatives are also implemented in the hospitals because proper handling of medical wastes is paramount to the safety of the hospital staff and patients visiting the facility.

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The cost of disposing medical wastes is relatively expensive compared to the disposal of solid waste. Therefore, this led to the introduction of red bags in which solid wastes in the hospitals were disposed of using other environmentally friendly ways to reduce the price for the disposal of medical wastes. The red bags were mainly used for disposal of biohazardous wastes such as vaginal speculums, blood-soaked drapes, gloves, and anything contaminated with OPIM (Mbongwe et al. 2008).

Due to the high cost of disposal of medical wastes, hospitals have to strategize on ways to reduce the wastage of the red bags. Firstly, the hospital should find a baseline by determining how much of the hospital's waste is specifically medical waste. The hospital can use the data found to set goals and monitor progress. Secondly, the hospital should educate its staff by plaining to them the difference between solid and medical waste.

Additionally, emphasize the importance of proper disposal practices and the benefits of sustainability. Thirdly, the hospital can ask for assistance from programs such as Practice Greenhealth to aid through benchmarking and writing reports on the hospital waste disposal techniques. Fourthly, the hospital can make a business case by using the data from the have acquired to show the senior leadership how much money can be saved by using proper waste management techniques. Lastly, placing the containers with care around the hospitals. The red bags should not be placed in a patient or exam room. It is because, if they are availed in patients and regular exam rooms, the red bags will be misused.

Through the red bag waste initiative, several services were affected. Firstly, the hospital staff who were wary of the changes because of being accustomed to disposing of wastes in a certain way had several grievances. Therefore, the introduction of the red bags was not received well by some staffers making the implementation a slow process (Laustsen, 2007). Additionally, the extra money which was being paid so that the medical wastes could be disposed of was reduced. The people who disposed of the medical wastes now earned less money than they were accustomed to.

The Red bag waste reduction initiative will improve patient care and outcome in the following ways. Firstly, it reduces the exposure of patients to items that are contaminated with body fluids. Thus, it reduces the risk of transmission of infections. Additionally, because of the reduction of the hospital's expenditure on medical wastes, the cost of treatment will reduce and be more affordable to the patients. The process of sorting out medical waste from solid waste is also reduced because the medical wastes have to undergo treatment before being destroyed. It is thus making work more accessible for the people disposing of the trash.

Also, the extra money that was being paid by the hospital for the disposal of medical wastes can be put in use in other areas that may need boosting. Also, the environment is preserved because of the proper placement of the medical wastes. Lastly, the Red bag waste reduction initiative enabled the hospital to be organized in terms of waste disposal. It is because each type of garbage had a specific disposal unit. The solid wastes went to the regular disposal bags while the medical wastes go to the red bags.

Once the initiative is implemented, the following services are going to improve. Firstly, patients will be safe in a hospital setting without the risk of getting infections. Additionally, the hospital will save a lot of money spent on the disposal of medical wastes.

Through education of patients and staff on what items to place on the regular disposable bags and the red waste bags, waste disposal becomes an organized activity in which the patients and the staff engage. Also, through the red bag waste initiative, the hospital and its surroundings become a safe and conducive environment for the patients and their families. It is because the red bag is made of a high-quality material in which items such as needles or syringes disposed of in it cannot find their way out of the bag and prick a person.

Conclusion

In summary, the red bag initiative is a sustainability program that benefits the patients and hospital staff. It is an initiative that ensures the safety and welfare of those who work or visit the hospital. Additionally, its benefits include low contamination rates for patients, their families and hospital staff, reduced expenditure on disposal of medical wastes by the hospital, and proper and effective means of medical waste disposal, thus enabling the organization of the hospital in terms of waste disposal. Therefore, hospitals should be encouraged to apply the Red bag waste reduction initiatives because of its effectiveness in managing medical wastes.

References

Laustsen, G. (2007). Reduce-recycle-reuse: guidelines for promoting perioperative waste management. AORN journal, 85(4), 717-728.

Mbongwe, B., Mmereki, B. T., & Magashula, A. (2008). Healthcare waste management: current practices in selected healthcare facilities, Botswana. Waste Management, 28(1), 226-233.

Stonemetz, J., Pham, J. C., Necochea, A. J., McGready, J., Hody, R. E., & Martinez, E. A. (2011). Reduction of regulated medical waste using lean sigma results in financial gains for hospital. Anesthesiology clinics, 29(1), 145-152.