Knowledge of management of health waste in COVID-19 for environmental impact

Abstract

The pandemic due to COVID-19 has been shaping the healthcare landscape, mainly due to the amount of Health Service Waste (RSS) that is being produced. Understanding how these SSR are managed and how health professionals are involved in this process can provide a better understanding of how this knowledge directly impacts the better management of the SSR itself, as well as the reduction of environmental impacts from this flow. The objective of the study is to evaluate the knowledge of health professionals on waste management in time of COVID-19. An exploratory, descriptive, cross-sectional, observational study was conducted with 55 health professionals, working in a public hospital in Manaus – Amazonas - Brazil. Were included subjects over 18 years old, working in an institution that dealt with confirmed cases of COVID-19. The instruments used in the data collection were: Questionnaire defining the profile of the participants; Questionnaire evaluating basic knowledge about waste management of health services. The results indicated that the institution of interest has a protocol for the management of residues contaminated by COVID-19 as reported by 50 participants (90.9%), but most do not know what the Health Services Waste Management Plan (56.4%) is, not received training on SRHS (69.1%), not knowing how to classify without difficulty which are the Health Service Residues (54.5%), even performing invasive procedures (87.3%). Even with the increase in demand for health services during the COVID-19 pandemic, training and knowledge on how to manage the waste from these services did not follow the same growth.