Management of solid waste in healthcare: Diagnosis of solid waste of hospitals in Natal/RN
Waste Management, Hospitals, sustainability
The present work endeavours to analyse the management of solid waste of health services at the hospitals in Natal/RN, from the collection throughout the final disposal. SWHS are waste from all health service providers, such as hospitals, laboratories, diagnostic and treatment services, veterinary clinics, legal medicine institutes, etc. Correct management of SWHS means not only controlling and reducing the risks, but also reducing the amount of waste from the point of origin, which would also increase the quality and efficiency of the health services as a whole. The general objective of this research is to analyse the management of solid waste of health services at hospitals in Natal/RN. The method employed to reach its goal is a quantitative survey with all the members of the research universe, running a census survey at the public and private hospitals in Natal/RN.
Among the 24 existing hospitals in the city of Natal, 22 were surveyed, and even thought most were very well evaluated, some need to improve in awareness. In addition, the higher education responsible for solid waste management in health services, hospital parners for waste disposal and companies responsible for final disposal were evaluated.