Essay On Health Care Waste Management

Health and safety policy Healthy and safety in a general practice surgery aims to keeping patients safe in the surgery. The responsibility of keeping service users safe should be on all the employees. The Health and Safety at Work Act imposes duties on employers and employees to protect individuals. To enable these duties to be carried out (Deepingspractice.co.uk, 2015)

Through the learning from week 1 and week 2, I have learnt that the most frequent adverse event in health-care delivery is health care-associated infections. It is essential for us to follow the infection control practices that both patients and us are at a risk of being infected. Standard Precautions involve the use of safe work practices and protective barriers, for example, the use of personal protective equipment(PPE). At first, I think Standard Precautions are very easy. Everyone knows PPE can protect us from infections and hand hygiene is important throughout the process. However, what I ignored and did wrong were the correct sequences of wearing PPE and how to use them correctly. The sequences are totally different when taking on and

Bloodborne pathogens are microorganisms that present in human blood and they can cause diseases. These pathogens include: – Viruses such as hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), also, parasites such as malaria and certain fungi. Sharp-tools, needle-sticks and other apparatus-related injuries may expose stuff to bloodborne pathogens. To eliminate the risk of occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens, implement an exposure control plan for workers on their worksite with enough details on protection measure. The plan must also describe how a worker will use personal protective, work practice controls, clothing and equipment, employee training, medical surveillance, hepatitis B vaccinations, and other provisions as required by Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)'s Bloodborne Pathogens Standard.

When dealing with substances, they will have a potential hazard which can affect the health care setting. The substance can be a potential hazard in the residential care home as there is clinical waste and cleaning products. As the nurse and the staff member will have to make sure that the cleaning products is locked in a room so that the visitors and the residents won 't be able to go in and touch the chemical products. There is a law called COSHH Regulation 2005, which stand for Control Of Substance Hazardous to Health regulation 2005. COSHH is when the hazardous substance have to be handled in a right way and it has to be stored in a minimise risk which is present. The COSHH must be kept in every care home which can provide detail:

The primary prevention is the best way to eliminate the potential for exposure. Since hand washing is the most effective mean of spread of infection, it would be my primary goal to increase the compliance of hand hygiene among healthcare workers, but also an extensive education of patients and family members on hand washing before and after touching the patient as well as afar any contact with any potentially contaminated materials (surface, body fluids or respiratory secretions). Mandatory education of patients, visitors and healthcare workers, across the system as well as cross department compliance practices are single best mean of preventing the spread of infection. For example, every patient and family member can be educated about hand hygiene, use of PPE-personal protective equipment (face mask, gowns and gloves). Although, the practices are already being utilized, I believe the compliance is poorly monitored.

Joint Commission and other accredited hospital agencies are working their best to prevent healthcare-associated infections. Poor compliance with infection prevention practices among healthcare workers are common, but it is important that the nurses comply with these practices. Patient safety is the number one goal and we as nurses should keep this in mind when giving care to

Needles are a big hazard if not thrown away after use. If they are left lying around someone else it can pass on symptoms if they someone who used it before had diabetes or maybe even HIV, it can even cause an infection. This is a health hazard. Another hazard is if there is no hygiene in the hospital, someone could become seriously ill. For example if nurses or doctors don’t wash their hands after helping another patient and then move on to the next, the patient could catch something. Another harm is that another infection could be passed on if the room has not been wiped down someone else could come down and lie down and catch the infection which makes it a health hazard.

A work environment requires more consideration for those around you and how your actions impact their health and wellbeing. It is astonishing to realise how quickly germs can spread through basic hygiene neglect.

A main requirement of a decontamination room is the separation of clean and contaminated activities to minimise the risk of contaminating clean or sterile product. Ideally there will be two decontamination rooms, one for the cleaning of instruments and one for inspection packaging and sterilisation. This is the quite common in hospitals, but in dental practices is more typical a single dedicated room. In this case the segregation can be achieved by a combination of contaminated to clean workflow and temporal separation, with clean and contaminated activities not taking place at the same time, and with surfaces cleaned and disinfected between the

Thank you for your response, but I 'm not sure that I agree with the last bullet. I don 't think that you meant that each "room" should have a sharps and biohazard container. Shouldn 't we only have those in examination rooms or the labs? The reception are wouldn 't need a sharps container, nor would it need a biohazard waste

Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) is one of the most important agents in the prevention of hospital acquired infections or what we termed nosocomial infections. IPC channels every member of the hospital, which includes, healthcare providers (HCP), patients and the hospitals perse. It is important to practice IPC commandment to every hospital as well as community. The Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH) adopted the national IPC protocol. Employees working in pediatrics hospital are supposed to take precautions to protect their patients and staff from exposure to potentially infectious materials. A fundamental component of standard infection prevention measures are a system of barrier precautions to be used by all personnel

All businesses have to comply with The Health and Safety Executive (UK Government body) and

Hepatitis B is a very serious disease, that has taken many people's’ lives. Hepatitis B has a vaccine, but many people don’t have access to it, and if left untreated, it can be fatal. This disease is infectious, but it can be cured and prevented. There are many symptoms, and most of them are pretty serious. To become infected by Hepatitis B, one must come into contact with the blood or other bodily fluids of an infected person. There are quite a few preventive measures you must take, but people still run the risk of getting infected. This disease is fairly common, with millions of people with it. I wish that I could help, and if I had everything I needed to help,I would, and one way I will help is to take precautions regarding this disease.

People tend to consume a lot, when there is consumption, there is waste – and that waste becomes a big problem that needs taken care of, which costs a lot of time, space and resources. If not managed, in turn, the world that we live in will become a hazardous place for all living things. According to the World Bank, people throughout the world, “spend $2.3 trillion a year on food and beverages alone” (Global Consumption Database, 2018), that is quite a lot. In addition to that, the world count mentions that, “we throw out over 50 tons of household waste every second. A number that will double by 2030” (The World Counts, 2018).

Needlestick injuries are injuries due to exposed and improper use of needles or sharps. The ANA in 2010, commemorated the 10th anniversary of the Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act, which improved protection against these injuries that expose health care workers to potentially deadly blood borne pathogens. These injuries, unfortunately, are still occurring today and far too often. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in March 2000, estimated that approximately 62-88 percent of sharps and needlestick injuries are preventable. Health care workers that handle sharp devices or equipment like scalpels, sutures, needles, phlebotomy devices or blood collection devices are all at risk but nurses are at a very high risk for being exposed to these preventable injuries which exposes them to numerous bloodborne pathogens especially deadly viruses such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDs. Needle-stick injuries may occur when disposing needles, collecting and disposing of materials used during patient care procedures, administering injections, drawing blood, or handling trash or dirty linens where needles have been inappropriately discarded. The CDC estimates that over 1,000 hospital-based health practitioner (HP) sustain injuries from contaminated needles and other sharp devices during the delivery of patient care everyday.