US TV news K-SAT.com presents a short piece about an employee who has raised concerns about clinical (medical) waste items found in and around a dumpster placed close to the front door of the Westover Hills Medical Plaza.

The items located include used nitrile gloves, various wrappers and sample tubes (unspecified) and urine pots. Some carry patient identification labels.

It would seem that, as is common in the US, the facility is shared between a number of private health providers each renting space and thus it becomes more difficult to identify who is responsible and who should take responsibility. A corporate response from the property managers said nothing of substance, as might be anticipated. There are suggestions from the office of the regulator, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, that the materials found might not be hazardous but that is debatable, though it is conceivable that much was in fact innocuous wrapping material and unused supplies. However, why any of this might find its way into a general waste stream and then to a dumpster, why some would be found on the floor outside the dumpster, why patient identifiable items could be found in the waste stream, and why the front door was considered the most appropriate location of a bulk waste container?

The dangers are possibly overstated, though if these wastes are found so too might other more hazardous items. A clean-up obviously didn’t happen, or failed to be supported by effective measures to prevent recurrence.

This is a poor example of waste management, with additional concerns about the management of clinical wastes, general hygiene standards and performance, wider management issues and concerns regarding patient confidentiality.  Nothing special, of course, as this could be seen in so many of our hospitals, day in, day out.

http://www.ksat.com/news/defenders/Medical-waste-found-outside-trash-cans-at-medical-professional-building/-/478436/19003408/-/format/rsss_2.0/-/ydn383/-/index.html