Search results

The purpose of this paper is to explore the drivers of healthcare waste management from literature review and field survey and model these drivers for understanding the inter-relationships among the drivers to enhance healthcare waste management in the Indian context.

In view of the need of the study, the interpretive structural modelling (ISM) method has been applied to model the drivers. The ISM method helps in depicting the relationships among the drivers and filtration of drivers on the basis of their driving and dependence power.

The findings of the study reveal that the type of a healthcare facility and its management structure, size of a healthcare facility, human resource management of a healthcare facility, healthcare facility’s management monitoring and control, and the effective re-enforcement of government regulation and policy implementation in a healthcare facility play a vital role in the enhancement of HCWM.

The application of the findings of this study would enhance the hospital’s waste management by ultimately leading to a good ambience and satisfied patients and personnels. Additionally, the study would aid in the policy formulation by government and decision making of medical facilities, thereby strengthening HCWM scenario in the country.

The drivers filtered in this study would be useful for ranking the hospitals’ healthcare waste management in a region/country. This ranking may play a vital role in earmarking the hospitals which are managing their healthcare waste according to the guidelines of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) of a country. With the help of this study, the problem of inadequate human resource can be effectively addressed for CPCB and MoEF, in India.

Healthcare waste management is a vital issue which needs attention from the management perspective in India. Therefore, an interpretive structural model, i.e. ISM digraph, has been developed which would help in the filtration of drivers and attaining the better healthcare waste management in an economically and timely manner.

The paper aims to examine the healthcare waste management practices of selected hospitals in Ghana.

The study adopted a multiple case approach, using two public and two private hospitals.

Findings indicate that both public hospitals and one private hospital have a waste management policy. Public and private hospitals have waste management plans and waste management teams. Public hospitals were found to generate more waste than the private hospitals. One private hospital and the public hospitals segregate their waste into different categories. This is done by first identifying the waste type and then separating non-infectious or general waste from infectious waste. Both public and private hospitals have internal storage facilities for temporarily storing the waste before they are finally disposed off-site. On-site transportation in the public hospitals is done by using wheelbarrows, while covered bins with wheels are used to transport waste on-site in the private hospitals. In public and private hospitals, off-site transportation of the hospital waste is undertaken by Municipal Assemblies with the use of trucks. Both public and private hospitals employ standard methods for disposing of healthcare waste.

The article provides insights into healthcare waste management from a Ghanaian perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to prioritize 21 healthcare wastes in public and private hospitals of United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Seven healthcare wastes linked with lean management are further decomposed in to sub-criteria and to deal with this complexity of multi criteria decision-making process, analytical hierarchical process (AHP) method is used in this research.

AHP framework for this study resulted in a ranking of 21 healthcare wastes in public and private hospitals of UAE. It has been found that management in private healthcare systems of UAE is putting more emphasis on the inventory waste. On the other hand, over processing waste has got highest weight in public hospitals of UAE.

The future directions of this research would be to apply a lean set of tools for the value stream optimization of the prioritized key improvement areas.

This is a contribution to the continuing research into lean management, giving practitioners and designers a practical way for measuring and implementing lean practices across health organizations.

The contribution of this research, through successive stages of data collection, measurement analysis and refinement, is a set of reliable and valid framework that can be subsequently used in conceptualization, prioritization of the waste reduction strategies in healthcare management.

Although healthcare and healthy living are integral to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030, the coronavirus epidemic has dealt a devastating blow to these efforts. As governments and policymakers were compelled to shift their focus to lockdowns, sustenance, procurement, and distribution of vaccines, the momentum for health initiatives slowed, and the already fragile health systems of emerging markets were subjected to additional shocks. However, in many underserved regions of the globe, the introduction of technology has greatly facilitated the distribution and adoption of healthcare services.

This chapter highlights mini-cases from four emerging nations: Bangladesh, Nigeria, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Although the countries are emerging, each one of them are in a distinct stage of development and face a unique set of healthcare-related challenges. The chapter showcases how four different organizations based in these countries leveraged the use of technology to take healthcare services to underserved populations. In doing so, they addressed the key challenges of imparting healthcare: geographic accessibility, availability, financial accessibility, and acceptability.

This chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of expanding healthcare industries leading to increased healthcare waste. To prevent mass population exposure to hazardous substances, the emergence of intelligent healthcare waste collection and disposal systems will be an absolute necessity. Hence, with the development of healthcare services, governments and policymakers need to mechanize smart waste management systems to safeguard humans, animals, and the environment.

A direct correlation exists between waste disposal, disease spread and public health. This article systematically reviewed healthcare waste and its implication for public health. This review identified and described the associations and impact of waste disposal on public health.

This paper systematically reviewed the literature on waste disposal and its implications for public health by searching Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA), PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and ScienceDirect databases. Of a total of 1,583 studies, 59 articles were selected and reviewed.

The review revealed the spread of infectious diseases and environmental degradation as the most typical implications of improper waste disposal to public health. The impact of waste includes infectious diseases such as cholera, Hepatitis B, respiratory problems, food and metal poisoning, skin infections, and bacteremia, and environmental degradation such as land, water, and air pollution, flooding, drainage obstruction, climate change, and harm to marine and wildlife.

Infectious diseases such as cholera, hepatitis B, respiratory problems, food and metal poisoning, skin infections, bacteremia and environmental degradation such as land, water, and air pollution, flooding, drainage obstruction, climate change, and harm to marine and wildlife are some of the public impacts of improper waste disposal.

Healthcare industry waste is a significant waste that can harm the environment and public health if not properly collected, stored, treated, managed and disposed of. There is a need for knowledge and skills applicable to proper healthcare waste disposal and management. Policies must be developed to implement appropriate waste management to prevent public health threats.

The purpose of this study is to see how the 5S-KAIZEN-TQM approach can contribute to improve the management of healthcare waste (HCW) in the regional level public hospitals in Tanzania.

This study employed an explanatory case study framework and focused on improvement of HCW management by assessing the information obtained through the direct observation and systematic interviewing during the consultation visits and external hospital performance assessment (EHPA) and the self-administrated questionnaires as sources of evidence.

Based on the observations, 100% adoption of the 5S approach was observed in 25 of 28 regional referral hospitals (RRHs). At these RRHs, segregation of HCW management has been improved by applying color codes and symbols for establishing self-explanatory system on proper segregation. In addition, seven out of 28 RRHs applied the KAIZEN process and reduced occurrences of improper waste segregation.

This study has the following limitations in terms of the information. The data were collected through the direct observation. Moreover, areas for the implementation of the KAIZEN vary from hospital to hospital, and only 25% of RRHs completed the KAIZEN processes for improvement of HCW management. Caveats are, therefore, needed in extrapolating the study results to other settings. Despite these caveats, the findings will provide important insights for implementing the 5S-KAIZEN approach in Tanzania and other African countries for improvement of HCW management.

This is an original study to provide evidence about the usefulness of the 5S-KAIZEN-TQM approach for improving HCW management in a low-income country in Africa.

The objective of this study is to systematically identify, categorize and assess the driving factors and interdependencies associated with various types of healthcare waste. The study specifically focuses on waste that has been managed or is recommended for treatment through the application of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) methodologies.

To accomplish the study’s objectives, interpretive structural modeling (ISM) was utilized. This analytical tool aided in quantifying the driving power and dependencies of each form of healthcare waste, referred to as “enablers,” as well as their related variables. As a result, these enablers were classified into four distinct categories: autonomous, dependent, linkage and drivers or independents.

In the healthcare sector, the “high cost” (HC) emerges as an autonomous variable, operating with substantial independence. Conversely, variables such as skill wastage, poor service quality and low patient satisfaction are identified as dependent variables. These are distinguished by their low driving power and high dependency. On the flip side, variables related to transportation, production, processing and defect waste manifest strong driving forces and minimal dependencies, categorizing them as independent factors. Notably, inventory waste (IW) is highlighted as a salient issue within the healthcare domain, given its propensity to engender additional forms of waste.

Employing the ISM model, along with comprehensive case study analyses, provides a detailed framework for examining the complex hierarchies of waste existing within the healthcare sector. This methodological approach equips healthcare leaders with the tools to accurately pinpoint and eliminate unnecessary expenditures, thereby optimizing operational efficiency and enhancing patient satisfaction. Of particular significance, the study calls attention to the key role of IW, which often acts as a trigger for other forms of waste in the sector, thus identifying a crucial area requiring focused intervention and improvement.

This research reveals new insights into how waste variables are structured in healthcare, offering a useful guide for managers looking to make their waste-reduction strategies more efficient. These insights are highly relevant not just for healthcare providers but also for the administrators and researchers who are helping to shape the industry. Using the classification and ranking model developed in this study, healthcare organizations can more easily spot and address common types of waste. In addition, the model serves as a useful tool for practitioners, helping them gain a deeper, more detailed understanding of how different factors are connected in efforts to reduce waste.

A measurement campaign was carried out for assessing the waste flow in a pilot hospital of a region in central Italy, with the purpose of having a complete overview of the waste stream and of the personnel behavior in managing and handling waste flow both internally and in outsourcing. The main aim of the work was to provide instruction for decreasing waste quantities, improving segregation and decreasing costs and environmental risks. Moreover an analysis of the effectiveness of outsourcing the waste management service in terms of cost reduction and efficiency improvements and of the limits has been performed.

A self‐assessment model was proposed for evaluating waste generation patterns, quantities and sources and identifying anomalies. The research team comprised the hospital administrator, the head physician and charge nurse of each hospital ward, the administrative in charge of the waste management documents, the head of the hospital pharmacy, the responsible for the external outsourcing company in charge of waste collection and disposal, and the research team of Università Politecnica delle Marche. The data were obtained through the questionnaires elaborated by the group and submitted to a selected sample of personnel; they were asked to provide information on waste management practices (generation, collection, segregation, cleaning, storage) and quantities.

Anomalous behaviors were identified in the high amount of solid waste going into the medical waste stream; corrective actions have been proposed and their effectiveness has been monitored after implementation. The measures allowed a reduction of medical waste from 13 to 15 percent in two analyzed wards with a significant reduction of waste management costs.

This work has been requested and supported by the management of the healthcare structure analyzed, and represents a first step in the implementation of a policy that considers waste management as one of the fundamental processes for the proper functioning of the hospital.

Green transformation is more than simply a trend; it is a way of life, a set of habits, a field of knowledge and a dedication to resource conservation. Going green is surely a creative and transformative process for both individuals and organizations. This paper aims to “identify,” “analyse” and “categorise” the readiness factors for green transformation process in health care using total interpretive structural modelling (TISM) and neutrosophic-MICMAC.

To address the study objectives, the study used TISM and neutrosophic-MICMAC analysis. To identify the readiness factors, a literature study was conducted, and the factors were face-validated by the healthcare experts. The factors influence on one another were captured by using a scheduled interview with a closed ended questionnaire. The TISM addressed the identification and analysing of factors and the categorization and ranking the readiness factors is addressed by using neutrosophic-MICMAC analysis.

This study identified 11 green transformation process readiness factors for healthcare organizations. The study states that the key factors or driving factors are awareness of green governance principle, environment leadership and management, green gap analysis, information and communication technology and innovation dynamics.

The factor ranking is sensitive to the respondents’ ratings. The study relied on the past literature and experts’ opinion may result in the subjective biases. The complex nature of healthcare ecosystem challenges to capture all the factors. The study focussed on Indian hospitals.

Study significantly impacts the healthcare practitioners, academicians and policymakers by providing critical insights into the readiness factors required for the healthcare green transformation process. The study offers a better understanding of the crucial or key or driving factors that aid in embracing green and sustainable practices.

Identifying a gap in conceptual and theoretical frameworks for green transformation readiness factors in healthcare organizations and in Indian context. The study addresses this gap by aiming to create a thorough theoretical framework and highlighted by its focus on Indian hospitals.

The day-by-day escalating quantity of healthcare waste (HCW), has made waste handling and management a challenging issue for ensuring environmental quality. Developing nations like India face huge difficulties in handling healthcare solid wastes (HCSW) because of the extra population burden. Hence, the present study seeks to evaluate the role of various stakeholders, under the following four performance areas: “collection and segregation of HCSW,” “storage and transportation of HCSW,” “special measures for handling HCSW” and ‘awareness among the various stakeholders of handling and managing the HCSW.”

The study targets the primary data from 323 stakeholders across 35 hospitals in Himachal Pradesh, India, to assess the environmental awareness level among various stakeholders. Data were analyzed using preliminary descriptive statistics, and further statistical testing was done using one-way ANOVA in SPSS version 20.0.

Results highlight that most hospitals lack the following areas: segregation of HCSW, marking of zones and bags carrying infectious HCSWs, inadequate transportation facilities, bad handling and storage practices and recycling without chemical disinfection.

The study's findings will help the hospitals' administration and State Pollution Control Board to design training programs for all the stakeholders involved in managing HCSW. The proper recycling of the HCSW will reduce the adverse environmental impact and ensure the environmental quality within the hospitals and surroundings. The preparation of appropriate policy for the collection, storage and transportation of HCSW from the hospitals to the treatment centers will ensure the cleaner delivery of healthcare services to society.

The present study is the first of its kind, where the primary data were collected from the various stakeholders involved in the handling of HCSW at various healthcare establishments (HCEs) in Himachal Pradesh, India.