Assessment of The Waste Management in Basic Health Units From a South Brazilian City

Abstract

Objective: This study has aimed to analyze the waste management from health care services and the nursing professionals background about the current legislation. Methods: It is a descriptive-exploratory research with a quantitative approach, which has been developed in three Basic Health Units from Pelotas city, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The participating nursing professionals were from the Family Health Strategy. It has been applied a structured questionnaire in order to identify the management of Health Solid Waste and the units’ structure, from October to November 2014. Descriptive analyzes have been done. Results: Regarding the 19 professionals, 57.8% reported not knowing the legislation about waste management; 89.5% reported carrying out the segregation of these materials, but 73.7% said they did not know the classification of these residues and 36.8% were unaware of specific care toward it. The units did not have a waste management formal plan. Conclusion: Overall, the units have significant weaknesses in the management process, both in the physical structure as well as in the professionals’ knowledge.