Avaliação das condições do gerenciamento dos resíduos de serviços de saúde do Hospital das Clínicas da UFMG

Abstract

According to a survey conducted by ABRELPE (Associação Brasileira de Empresas de Limpeza Pública e Resíduos Especiais) were generated 1.058,90 tonnes per day of health-care waste (HCW), in 2007, in Brazil, with only 336.38 tons / day (31.77%) being treated. The amount of HCW generated in each Brazilian state keeps close correspondence with thequantities of existing hospital beds in them. The objective of this study was to assess the conditions of the health-care waste management(HCWM) at Hospital das Clínicas of Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (HC/UFMG), which is a public and general university hospital, that carries on education, research and assistance activities, and is a reference in the state of Minas Gerais. One of the methodologies used was the participant observation, with detailed inventory of management procedures adopted HC, from the generation of waste to its final destination. The primary data were obtained through the application of structured questionnaires to cleaners, waste collectors and cleaning managers in order to identify the perception they haveof the risks involved n their work. Although the results raise breaches in this management- such as lack of workforce and infrastructure in the waste sector, the incipient training of professionals that generate waste,and the excessive workload of the cleaning staff it also points to positive actions that are applied by the waste sector of HC such as the training of the cleaning staff addressing issues related to the management of HCW and biosafety and the deployment of waste segregation at the very moment of its generation educationally but not effectively. Initiatives for permanent and continued education, approaching the disposal of objects such as needles and sharps, identified as the main cause of accidents involving biological material, as well as adaptation of the internal collection and the external and internal storage of HCW to federal and local laws are visible and urgent.