Franke Global Leadership Initiative (GLI) Oral Presentations
Presentation Type
Presentation
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Hayley Blackburn
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Pharmacy
Abstract / Artist's Statement
Healthcare facilities are generators of large amounts of waste, leading to global environmental impacts that negatively impact both human health and natural systems around the world. Medical waste is usually defined quite broadly, encompassing any waste generated by a healthcare facility. Increasing use of single use plastic and single use devices has led to a large uptick in medical waste globally, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, 4.7 billion tons of healthcare waste is produced each year, which is approximately thirty-three pounds per hospital bed per day (Overstreet, 2021). The generation and disposal of this waste leads to many negative impacts to the environment and human health, such as toxins released into the air, possible exposure to infectious diseases, or the general overfilling of landfills. This underscores the need for the healthcare sector to rethink its approach to waste and to find solutions to reduce and effectively manage waste from their operations. Our research suggests that providing education and promoting small changes can be effective in reducing the amount of medical waste generated. Instead of altering the way that entire medical systems think about their waste, we can reach those who may begin to foster that change. Our healthcare system is rigid and complex and so often the easiest way to navigate changes is through small tweaks to the system. Some of the biggest differences were made by hospitals by switching to a reusable product or retraining staff on proper techniques. Education is the solution that has brought forth the most success according to our research. Educating healthcare professionals and the public about different types of medical waste and how its generated along with the potential risks associated with improper disposal will only benefit the environment in the future.
Based on this research, we chose to host a medical waste day, partnering with local organizations that share our same ideas and visions to generate awareness. Additionally, this event will be advertised and open to the public and will be hosted in a community space. The medical waste day will prove more successful if more people are reached, thus, it is vital that we allow our day to be accessed by all those interested. Our approach to the development and implementation of a medical waste day will require collaborative efforts within our group and the broader community. This will be done in 5 steps: finding partners with like minded interests, creating a preliminary survey to assess local need, organizing the event, hosting the event, and evaluating the impact of the event. For the first two steps, we will reach out to our partners via email to establish interest and level of participation in our event. The third and fourth step will be brought about by collaboration within our team/school. In order to determine the impact that our medical waste awareness day created, we will send out an exit survey that asks specific questions to gauge effectiveness. Our hope is to foster new connections between organizations and to encourage healthcare organizations to implement change. We also hope that by opening this event to the public that we will increase general awareness of medical waste.
Category
Franke Global Leadership Initiative
Medical Waste Awareness Day
UC 220
Healthcare facilities are generators of large amounts of waste, leading to global environmental impacts that negatively impact both human health and natural systems around the world. Medical waste is usually defined quite broadly, encompassing any waste generated by a healthcare facility. Increasing use of single use plastic and single use devices has led to a large uptick in medical waste globally, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, 4.7 billion tons of healthcare waste is produced each year, which is approximately thirty-three pounds per hospital bed per day (Overstreet, 2021). The generation and disposal of this waste leads to many negative impacts to the environment and human health, such as toxins released into the air, possible exposure to infectious diseases, or the general overfilling of landfills. This underscores the need for the healthcare sector to rethink its approach to waste and to find solutions to reduce and effectively manage waste from their operations. Our research suggests that providing education and promoting small changes can be effective in reducing the amount of medical waste generated. Instead of altering the way that entire medical systems think about their waste, we can reach those who may begin to foster that change. Our healthcare system is rigid and complex and so often the easiest way to navigate changes is through small tweaks to the system. Some of the biggest differences were made by hospitals by switching to a reusable product or retraining staff on proper techniques. Education is the solution that has brought forth the most success according to our research. Educating healthcare professionals and the public about different types of medical waste and how its generated along with the potential risks associated with improper disposal will only benefit the environment in the future.
Based on this research, we chose to host a medical waste day, partnering with local organizations that share our same ideas and visions to generate awareness. Additionally, this event will be advertised and open to the public and will be hosted in a community space. The medical waste day will prove more successful if more people are reached, thus, it is vital that we allow our day to be accessed by all those interested. Our approach to the development and implementation of a medical waste day will require collaborative efforts within our group and the broader community. This will be done in 5 steps: finding partners with like minded interests, creating a preliminary survey to assess local need, organizing the event, hosting the event, and evaluating the impact of the event. For the first two steps, we will reach out to our partners via email to establish interest and level of participation in our event. The third and fourth step will be brought about by collaboration within our team/school. In order to determine the impact that our medical waste awareness day created, we will send out an exit survey that asks specific questions to gauge effectiveness. Our hope is to foster new connections between organizations and to encourage healthcare organizations to implement change. We also hope that by opening this event to the public that we will increase general awareness of medical waste.