Research on Optimization of Healthcare Waste Management System Based on Green Governance Principle in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

At present, strategies for controlling the COVID-19 pandemic have made significant and strategic strides; however, and the large quantities of healthcare treatment waste have become another important “battlefield”. For example, in Wuhan, the production rate of healthcare waste in hospitals, communities, temporary storage, and other units was much faster than the disposal rate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Improving the efficiency of healthcare waste transfer and treatment has become an important task for government health and environmental protection departments at all levels. Based on the situation of healthcare waste disposal in Wuhan during the critical period of the pandemic, this paper analyzes and studies green governance principles and summarizes the problems that exist in the current healthcare waste management system. Through the establishment of temporary storage facilities along transit routes, digital simulation and bionic experiments were carried out in the Hongshan District of Wuhan to improve the efficiency of healthcare waste transfer. Furthermore, this study discusses the coordination and cooperation of government, hospitals, communities, and other departments in the healthcare waste disposal process and provides guiding suggestions for healthcare waste disposal nationwide in order to deal with potential risks and provide effective references in all regions.

Developing Green Healthcare Activities in the Total Quality Management Framework

“…For H7, the standardized path coefficient between continuous improvement activities and environmental performance (H7) was 0.963 and statistically significant at the 0.001 level, thus supporting H7. This result implies that continuous improvement activities influence long-term environmental performance [ 20 , 64 ]. Green healthcare activities of hospitals can not only contribute to environmental sustainability by minimizing pollutants across their healthcare services, but they can also enhance their public image as socially responsible organizations.…”

“…Green healthcare-based practices are crucial for optimizing the benefits for the organization [ 19 , 20 ]. For example, as healthcare organizations discharge substantial amounts of medical wastes, they can practice green healthcare by continuously monitoring hazardous chemicals that they use and dispose [ 64 , 65 ], as well as adopting recycling strategies to reduce the waste volume and disposal costs [ 66 ]. These activities can lead to more consistent practices and the standardization of work performance and operational processes [ 20 ].…”

“…These activities can lead to more consistent practices and the standardization of work performance and operational processes [ 20 ]. Moreover, they can have a positive impact on the overall organizational performance by effectively reducing costs and waste through the continuous evaluation of green healthcare activities [ 64 ]. Thus, monitoring green healthcare activities in each department could have a positive impact on performance and lead to improvements in an organization.…”

Disposal of Waste from Tattoo and Beauty Parlors in Poland: A Survey-Based Analysis on Epidemiological Safety

“…The current experience in the fight against the spread of infections, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, should sensitize many decision-makers to the fact that success in the fight against many pathogensmostly dependson a prevention approach [ 39 ]. According to the authors of the article, not only urgent action but also research is needed in this area.…”

Medical Waste Treatment Technologies for Energy, Fuels, and Materials Production: A Review

“…Liu et al [178] proposed coordinating governments, hospitals, communities, and other departments in the MWD process, as well as developing guidelines for MWD nationwide to deal with potential risks and optimize MWM systems using the green governance principle. Torkayesh et al [179] developed a novel multi-objective optimization model to assist the optimized decision-making by the MWG companies, considering the economic/environmental/social aspects of the sustainability concept.…”