Medical Waste Management is vital in the workplace and clinic if you want to protect yourself, your staff, your patients and your environment. Each of these things contribute to the necessity of ensuring that medical waste management is done properly and effectively. Medical waste management is actually a team effort, an individual responsibility but ultimately a team effort in regard to final collection, and from disposal to collection it is vital that everybody within the workplace is well aware of how medical waste should be disposed of and prepared for collection. When you are working in a setting that has copious amounts of medical waste it can become second nature and common practice to become a little less efficient in regard to medical waste management but there is never a time for complacency, all medical waste disposal should be done with great caution and responsibility.
Each individual has the responsibility to dispose of their own medical waste and the medica waste that they are dealing with within their specific area. This means that you need to be sure that all medical waste is placed into the correct bins that are provided, these are usually red in color and are made to be easily identified, especially because there may be some emergency situations that occur with some patients, and it may be a quick turn over, so the red bins are easily seen and readily available. A complacent attitude can mean that waste can become mixed up and this is a very serious matter due to the serious consequences that can be had from being contaminated by medical waste materials. If everyone in the workplace was to be cautious and effective with their medical waste then as was mentioned previously the clinic will be a safer place and staff, patients and the environment, not only that you work in but also on a larger scale, will benefit and will be at a lower risk.
Once you become aware of medical waste management it becomes easier to follow so if any new members of staff were to start then it is vital that they are taught as soon as possible how to dispose of medical waste correctly and the importance of ensuring that all medical waste is placed in the correct bins, it is transported to the outdoor holding area carefully where it will be collected by an outsourced waste disposal company. There is a process to medical waste management and everybody that works inside a building that has medical waste should be educated on how it is to be done properly. It would also be worthwhile discussing the different types of medical waste because not all medical waste is to be disposed of in the same way and if there is confusion in any way there is the possibility that someone can be caused injury or harm, or they may even experience contamination from the medical waste materials that has been incorrectly disposed of. Medical waste management
