Environmental risk and waste management in a university hospital in Canada: A case study

Medical waste impacts represent one of the main questions for public health administrators because of this kind of waste offers risks due to the presence of biological, chemical and/or radioactive agents. As opposed to what happens in developed countries, in Brazil, medical waste is still not managed in accordance with the recommendations found in more developed situations with respect to handling, treatment and final disposal. This research aimed to get to know and describe the management structure of the medical waste produced at McMaster University Medical Centre – MUMC - Canada, with a view to the implementation of new strategies in the Brazilian reality. Our premise was based on the existing similarities between Canada and Brazil with respect to how medical waste is handled and discarded, in spite of the higher level of legal organization and technical-operational and political conditions in Canada. This descriptive and exploratory case study is based on semi-structured interviews, systemized observation and a check-list. Research subjects were 10 key informants, working at 10 different hospital areas. Data were analysed based on three basic steps of the contents of the interviews, supported by the data obtained through observations and heck-list. Results displayed an organized management situation in the mapped risk areas, although waste creators behavior still does not correspond to the Canadian legal demands and recommendations, which corroborates our initial premise. The obtained results also allowed us to propose a protocol, to be used in Brazil as an auxiliary strategy for managing medical waste as a useful tool for managers and decision makers in this area, in spite of socioeconomic and cultural differences in relation to Canada, with the possibility of contributing to the environmental risk evaluation and management process.

 Keywords: Medical/Infectious Waste; Environmental Risk Evaluation and Management; Medical/Infectious Waste Risks.