Avaliação das práticas de manejo de resíduos de serviços de saúde no departamento de odontologia da UFRN

Abstract

Health services waste have an important role in public health, because when they are managed improperly, they represent a major environmental problem. It’s notorious the need for wasting minimization associated to the development of sustainable practices. Thus, this descriptive, cross-sectional and exploratory study aimed to evaluate the management practices of the health services waste in the Department of Dentistry of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), verifying its suitability as the current legislation. The sample was composed by clinical assistants and cleaning head. Data were collected through semi-structured interview techniques and systematic observation and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results point out limitations in the various waste management steps, such as segregation of ordinary and biological waste in the same container; internal transport performed without surgical scrub; inadequate collectors and chemical waste discharged directly into the sewer system. It was verified that the management of health services waste hasn’t been accomplished according to the legislation, it’s necessary to perform adjustments in all health services waste management steps, in order to preserve the environmental and collective health.