Recycling, responsible consumption and nursing: A qualitative study of surgical nurses' recycling and medical waste management

Abstract

Aim This study was conducted to examine the opinions of nurses working in surgical wards on recycling and medical waste management. Background Surgical services and operating rooms are the most waste‐generating parts of health institutions. The primary purpose of waste management is to ensure waste minimization and increase recycling. Method In this qualitative study, in‐depth interviews were conducted with 15 nurses. The data were analysed by the content analysis method. The COREQ checklist was used in the study. Results As a result of the study, four main themes were determined: Barriers in medical waste and recycling management, solution suggestions in medical waste and recycling management, waste of medical and consumable materials and the effect of the pandemic process on medical waste and recycling management. Conclusion Medical waste and recycling management was interrupted due to lack of education, emergencies, hiring of untrained personnel and workload. During the pandemic, medical waste increased, and it could not be recycled. The solution suggestions are training at frequent intervals, monitoring by the responsible nurses and imposing sanctions on those who do not comply. Implications for Nursing Management Knowing nurses' obstacles in managing medical waste and recycling and putting forward solutions in this regard affects sustainability. Knowing the obstacles to the management of medical waste and recycling by nurses could help in solutions.

Barriers and facilitators to sustainable operating theatres: a systematic review using the Theoretical Domains Framework

“…Twelve studies aimed to investigate general knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours around sustainability in the workplace 60 , 64 , 66 – 72 , 75 , 77 , 78 . Eight were focused on specific areas of sustainability, either recycling or waste reduction/management or both 61 – 63 , 65 , 73 , 74 , 76 , 79 , and the remaining study investigated anaesthesia 80 . Most studies only reported barriers to change rather than facilitators.…”

“…The most frequent was ‘personnel shortage and workload’ (11 studies; 52%). This was often related to workload and time pressures in the operating theatre, which meant that, for example, waste was ‘thrown indiscriminately’ 76 .…”

A Pilot Study into the Use of Qualitative Methods to Improve the Awareness of Barriers to Sustainable Medical Waste Segregation within the United Kingdom’s National Health Service

“…For this study, a focus group and semi-structured interviews were conducted with healthcare workers within the United Kingdom during June and July 2023. These qualitative approaches were chosen as they have been found effective in determining attitudes and experiences within medical and social settings within previous studies [9][10][11][12]. The goal of the study was 'to explore barriers to correct medical waste segregation within the UK National Health Services (NHS) and investigate why medical waste is incorrectly identified as 'hazardous".…”

“…[9,10] used questionnaires and focus groups to interview nurses and found that they are aware of the need for sustainability and want to contribute but face many challenges. A key problem was the lack of clear instructions, training, and feedback [11,12] with 86% of nurses within one study expressing the need for refresher training [9]. Other studies also used questionnaires and focus groups to test the knowledge of healthcare workers and found them to have poor understanding around the correct disposal of waste [13,14].…”

What Do Nurses Working in Primary Health Care Services Know About Medical Waste Management?

“…For this reason, it is necessary that all personnel working in health institutions have received the necessary training in this regard. Nurses, who are in direct contact with the patient, assume primary roles in treatment and care practices, and make up the majority of health professionals working in health care centers, have important duties (Mir et al, 2013;Matos et al, 2018;Sürme and Maraş, 2022). For nurses, improper separation of medical wastes may result in infectious diseases or occupational accidents (Pandit et al, 2005).…”