scholarly journals Waste management barriers in developing country hospitals: Case study and AHP analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego V de Godoy Delmonico ◽  
Hugo H dos Santos ◽  
Marco AP Pinheiro ◽  
Rosani de Castro ◽  
Regiane M de Souza

Healthcare waste management is an essential field for both researchers and practitioners. Although there have been few studies using statistical methods for its evaluation, it has been the subject of several studies in different contexts. Furthermore, the known precarious practices for waste management in developing countries raise questions about its potential barriers. This study aims to investigate the barriers in healthcare waste management and their relevance. For this purpose, this paper analyses waste management practices in two Brazilian hospitals by using case study and the Analytic Hierarchy Process method. The barriers were organized into three categories – human factors, management, and infrastructure, and the main findings suggest that cost and employee awareness were the most significant barriers. These results highlight the main barriers to more sustainable waste management, and provide an empirical basis for multi-criteria evaluation of the literature.

2021 ◽  
pp. 0734242X2110452
Author(s):  
Flávia Tuane Ferreira Moraes ◽  
Andriani Tavares Tenório Gonçalves ◽  
Josiane Palma Lima ◽  
Renato da Silva Lima

The COVID-19 pandemic has put healthcare waste management (HCWM) systems under pressure worldwide. In Brazil, where municipalities routinely experience challenges in ensuring suitable disposal of healthcare waste (HCW), the pandemic has made this even more challenging. Therefore, the creation of tools and methods to help in municipal HCWM during the COVID-19 pandemic is of utmost importance. This article presents the development of a tool to evaluate HCWM in Brazilian municipalities during the pandemic. Following guidelines of health agencies, 56 indicators and 18 criteria were selected to create a tool called the municipal healthcare waste management assessment index (iMHWaste). These indicators and criteria were divided into operational, environmental, political–economic, educational and social groups. Each group considers essential aspects for sustainable management, safety and reduced spread of coronavirus. The analytic hierarchy process was used to assign the weights attributed to the groups and criteria. The indicators can be measured according to a standardized rating scale proposed for each one. These elements were aggregated with a weighted linear combination, into an equation that allows the calculation of the iMHWaste. The index is rated on a scale of 0–1. The index was applied in a Brazilian municipality considering a pre-pandemic HCWM. With the identification of the municipality’s management weaknesses, it was possible to identify the main actions that should be prioritized in the transition from traditional HCWM during the pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 12785
Author(s):  
Mohammed Khalifa Abdelsalam ◽  
Ibrahim Mohammed Massoud Egdair ◽  
Halima Begum ◽  
Diara Md. Jadi ◽  
Hussein-Elhakim Al Issa ◽  
...  

This study aims to investigate factors contributing to healthcare waste management practices among Libyan public hospitals. The organizational culture and structure are proposed to have their effect upon hospital organizational units in charge of healthcare waste production by a theoretical review to develop two main hypotheses. Hence, this study used the stratified random sampling technique to select respondents such as top management officials, heads of departments, and administrators who work in all the hospitals located in the south of Libya, from whom data was collected. The data for the study was gathered via a survey questionnaire from Libyan public hospitals in the country’s southern region. A total of 210 questionnaires were distributed and 171 usable responses were received, yielding a 70% response rate. Though the findings of the study show some inconsistency, the two dimensions of the culture examined in this study are found to have a positive relationship and significant influence on the management practices of health waste. Besides, it shows the positive relationship between organizational structure and healthcare waste management practices (HWMP). However, the findings of this study suggested that nurses and cleaners’ practices should critically consider structure dimensions such as formalization as well as moderating variables such as hospital location and type of services supplied on the interactions to improve the management of healthcare waste in Libya’s public hospitals.


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