Have you ever heard that at your healthcare facility? At some point in your career, you've considered liquid waste disposal at your hospital. There is little doubt that managing liquid waste in any medical facility, particularly hospitals, presents issues. The issues extend beyond actual disposal to how to contain it based on type.
It's more than just eliminating liquid medical waste; it's also about employee safety and, of course, your bottom line! Non-compliance carries significant fines and penalties, not to mention reputational damage! Avoid headaches by adopting proper medical waste segregation and disposal.
What Forms of Fluids Compose Hospital Liquid Waste?
Hospitals must cope with several sorts of liquid waste disposal. Each fluid kind has specific criteria for healthcare waste management, segregation, and liquid disposal methods. Hospital staff encounter a variety of liquid wastes, including:
- Dialysis waste, including lab cultures and specimens.
- Chemotherapy agents and other liquid pharmaceuticals
- Spine fluids
- Blood and blood products
- amniotic fluids
- A variety of body secretions and fluids
Fluid medical waste can, and does, leak. It could potentially be infectious. To clean up a medical spill, you may need to follow certain standards and use personal protective equipment (PPE). Fluid medical wastes could be biohazardous or contagious. Various diseases, such as HIV, hepatitis B, and viruses, can contaminate such wastes.
Some fluids, such as chemotherapeutic treatments and prescriptions, may be categorized as biohazard waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) law, requiring special methods and requirements for containment, storage, labeling, and disposal. Biomedical waste management is essential!
What Kind of Liquid Waste Is Regulated Medical Waste?
It's better to be safe than sorry. Indeed, the vast majority of liquid medical waste generated in a hospital setting might be categorized as regulated medical waste. What about the liquid medical waste that is sucked into a suction canister at the place of origin in the emergency room, a patient's room, or a surgical suite? What about fluid-saturated materials used to clean up spills (of any kind)? What about blood-soaked gauze and filthy personal protective equipment (PPE)? You may not think of that as liquid medical waste, but at a particular saturation level, special laws apply.
Liquid medical waste is normally segregated and deposited in a carefully constructed and labeled container that is puncture, leak, and spill-proof. Before liquid wastes leave the medical facility for disposal, they must be appropriately packaged and labeled per authorized medical waste criteria. In reality, potentially infected liquid medical waste must be packaged separately from ' regular' and non-infectious liquid waste.
How To Deal With Liquid Medical Waste?
Managing hospital liquid waste can be time-consuming, irritating, and expensive. However, there are some things that hospital staff should never do with liquid waste since it can be dangerous, such as "pouring it down the drain".
In a hospital setting, liquid medical waste is handled, packaged, contained, and disposed of in a variety of settings, including operating rooms. For example, the disposal of fluid medical waste from an operating room must be not only efficient and compliant, but also cost-effective, while safeguarding all members of the medical care team from exposure to hazardous viruses, germs, and blood-borne infections. The OSHA primarily regulates the storage and handling of liquid medical waste, which is subsequently distributed from the federal to the state levels. OSHA defines controlled medical waste as follows:
- Liquid or semisolid blood, or other potentially harmful materials.
- Contaminated products that might leak blood or other potentially infectious materials in a liquid or semi-liquid condition if crushed.
- Things caked with dried blood or other substances that might be infectious and capable of releasing them upon handling;
- Hazards include contaminated sharps, as well as pathological and microbiological waste comprising blood or other potentially infectious elements.
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