Perfil dos profissionais que manuseiam resíduos sólidos potencialmente infectantes em serviços de saúde da odontologia: relevância da abordagem do tema e proposta de avaliação do contexto atual

Abstract

Waste generation in urban and industrial centers has been a matter of concern inside communities, for governments, researchers and environmentalists. Solid Waste is the focus for those who care about Environment. Considering the amount of waste generation, population could be affected by environmental impacts with seriousconsequences as life quality decrease and health care problems increase. The personnel involved in waste management could be exposed to injuries and infection that can be related to the absence of protective measures as information, and the use of protective equipment. Studies considering the profile of personnel involved in waste management, taking into account their knowledge about the daily practice, are scarce. Considering the aspects above mentioned the present study pretend to develop a questionnaire to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes and daily practice of the team inside a public dental health service. The study also aimed to perform a literature review on the subject emphasizing waste and risk management. To elaborate the questions several published studies, laws and guidelines were consulted. The questionnaire was performed with questions addressed to sociodemographic data, knowledge about waste packaging and handling, training, standard precautions, vaccination and hand hygiene. In the future, this questionnaire could be used in healthcare services as an instrument for assessing the professionalbehavior and to design training programs beyond enabling data generation that could be compared between health care institutions, States and even Countries. After validation and approval by the Ethic Committee, the data may be presented at scientific meetings and published in scientific magazines