Medical Waste Management in USA

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MEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT
Medical Waste Disposal Services and Transform
Your Business
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OBJECTIVES

• Define Medical Waste, Regulated Medical Waste and
  Infectious Waste.
• Discuss the Regulations Applicable to Medical
  Waste.
• Discuss the Components of an Infectious Waste
  Management Plan.

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GOALS

• Understand the Definition of Medical Waste,
  Regulated Medical Waste, and Infectious Waste.
• Understand Why Medical Waste Compliance is
  Important.
• Understand the Components of an Infectious Waste
  Management Plan.

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What is Medical waste?
Definition of Medical Waste In this course,
medical waste includes all infectious waste,
hazardous (including low-level radioactive
wastes), and any other wastes that are generated
from all types of health care institutions,
including hospitals, clinics, doctors (including
dental and veterinary) offices and medical
laboratories.
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WHAT IS A REGULATED MEDICAL WASTE?

• Definition of Regulated Medical Waste
• Regulated Medical Waste is a subset of all
  medical wastes and include seven distinct
  categories
• Cultures and stocks of infectious agents.
• Human pathological wastes (e.g. tissues, body
  parts)
• Human blood and blood products
• Sharps (e.g. hypodermic needles and syringes)
• Certain animal wastes
• Certain isolation wastes (e.g. wastes from
  patients with highly communicable diseases)
• Unused sharps.

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WHAT IS AN INFECTIOUS WASTE?

• Definition of an Infectious Waste
• EPA has provided the following guidance on what
  constitutes an infectious waste. These factors
  include
• Presence of a pathogen of sufficient virulence
• Dose
• Portal of entry
• Resistance of host
• Thus, for a waste to be infectious, it must
  contain a pathogen with sufficient virulence and
  quantity so that exposure to the waste by a
  person or animal could result in an infectious
  disease.

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WHAT IS AN INFECTIOUS WASTE?
EPA categorizes infectious wastes into the
following seven categories 1. Isolation wastes
wastes generated by hospitalized patients who are
isolated to protect others from communicable
diseases. 2. Cultures and stocks of infectious
agents and associated biologicals this category
includes - Specimens from medical and
biological laboratories - Cultures and stocks
of infectious agents from clinical, research, and
industrial laboratories 3. Human blood and blood
products this includes waste blood, serum,
plasma, and blood products.
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WHAT IS AN INFECTIOUS WASTE?
4. Pathological waste tissues, organs, body
parts, blood, and body fluids. 5. Contaminated
sharps contaminated hypodermic needles,
syringes, scalpel blades, Pasteur pipettes, and
broken glass. 6. Contaminated animal carcasses,
body parts, and animal bedding 7. Miscellaneous
Contaminated Wastes these include -
Wastes from surgery and autopsy -
Miscellaneous laboratory wastes - Dialysis
unit wastes - Contaminated equipment
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INFECTIOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT PLANS
Components of an Infectious Waste Management
Plan 1. Designation of the waste that should be
managed as infectious 2. Segregation of
infectious waste from the noninfectious waste 3.
Packaging 4. Storage 5. Treatment 6. Disposal 7.
Contingency measures for emergency situations 8.
Staff training
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DESIGNATION OF AN INFECTIOUS WASTE
The infectious waste plan for your facility
should specify which wastes are to be managed as
infectious wastes. The previous slides in this
course can help determine what should be
included. A responsible official or committee
should determine any other miscellaneous wastes
should be handled as an infectious waste.
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THE IMPORTANCE OF A CLEAN ENVIRONMENT
Southern Medical Waste Service ensures that
healthcare organization can maintain a secure and
hygienic environment at very cost-effective
rates.  In addition to providing waste disposal
services, this organization also helps hospitals
in complying with the OSHA and other regulatory
organization. Healthcare organizations looking to
improve their Medical waste management systems
can rely on Southern Medical Waste Service and
transform their business.
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Medical Waste Company Email Sales_at_medicalwastecom
pany.com Phone [phone] Address 6307
QUINN DRIVE, BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA
70817 Website http//www.medicalwastecompany.com/