SWOT-TOWS analysis to improve home health waste management during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Home health services are of great concern, as infectious diseases can be transmitted not only to residents but also to home health care workers. Worldwide, there are few studies related to home health waste management. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, a survey on waste management from home health care services was carried out between October and December 2019. In the survey, all 67 stakeholders (health teams and caregivers/patients) involved in home health care services in the municipality of Caruaru (Brazil) were interviewed. The collected data showed that the home health care and waste management practices identified during field visits would be severely impacted by the pandemic. In this context, a SWOT analysis and TOWS matrix were employed in the analysis of home health care practices; in this work, those practices include care provided by health teams and patient caregivers, encompassing the handling of waste resulting from health care. The results show the need to promote strategies to improve home health care services to preserve the health of professionals and patients in the pandemic and post-pandemic periods. In this context, care related to the transmission of COVID-19 has been ratified, generating additional actions for the proper management of health waste.