As the person in charge of waste at a medical facility or healthcare pharmacy, it’s of utmost priority to keep your establishment productive, efficient, clean and budget-friendly. Despite mass knowledge, it’s important to mention that health care facilities generate an excessive amount of waste. It’s quite essential for its employees to handle the process of pharmaceuticalwaste disposal with sensible techniques so that safety and compliance is maintained. The waste comprising of expired vials of medicines and hardcore injections, damaged syringes and superfluous tablet strips etc must be handled and disposed of properly under Dangerous Waste Regulations.
The Guide to Proper Waste Disposal
The pharmaceutical waste comes under the dangerous “hazardous waste” which is harmful both for man’s survival and the sustenance of the natural environment. Some of them are even a biohazard or a controlled substance. Determination leads to the process of disposal. Some of the important to be taken care of are –
- Training: The pharmacy is responsible for training anyone related to the disposal or paperwork of the department properly to separate, manage and collect pharmaceutical waste of facility.
- Efficiency: Old information and medical directions are to be overcome so that the dangerous waste doesn’t get disposed on a regular drain but clearly labeled waste bins will ensure patient safety.
- Collection: If you want to ensure proper pharmaceutical waste disposal, you would want to give special care and training to the janitorial stuff of your facility so that they know to keep this particular hazard away from other waste, Waste handling requirements are integrated into the regular procedures so that staffs know proper disposal right from the shoot.
- Disposing facility: If pharmaceutical wastes don’t run down the sewer, where does it go? They must go to a permitted disposal facility that has a positive waste service provider reputation and a good compliance record.
- Responsibility: The moment a waste facility is created, it belongs to your responsibility. It implies that the total waste the facility generates comes under your disposal protocols. Even when it’s picked up by a service provider, the responsibility is held on you.
- Operations: The pharmaceutical waste is a non-biodegradable waste which means proper chemical processes are to be followed for its compressing. Incinerating pharmaceutical waste makes disposal easy at an appropriate facility. This is also how you can reduce your own liability.
Bottom Line
It should be understood by now that throwing pharmaceutical waste in the trash is improper disposal and necessarily, it could land the business pharmacy a costly penalty. Containers of these harmful substances must go to a controlled facility with proper systems for efficient disposals. Regulations are complex for every location for pharmaceutical waste disposal.