Articles by: Waste Medic

Medical Waste Management Is Critical To Patient Care

December 7, 2023

New healthcare workplace safety report raises concern over proper medical waste management and safety within healthcare organizations. Nine in ten Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) and consumers surveyed agree that medical waste management is important in delivering the best possible patient care, according to a new report. The annual Healthcare Workplace Safety Trend Report reveals how providers and administrators in the U.S. view health and safety in their organizations and its impact on peers, patients, and surrounding […]

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Quality Transformation: How Hospitals are Striking a Balance Between the Bottom Line & Better Care

December 3, 2023

Patient safety events, especially preventable ones, are on the rise at healthcare organizations. Meanwhile, frontline staff are burned out, and the current fiscal environment is exerting pressure on margins. Amid these interrelated challenges, it is difficult for health system leaders to manage competing priorities. Though many hospitals and health systems try to reduce expenses by cutting supply costs, the greatest opportunity for transformation is quality improvement. Becker’s Hospital Review recently spoke with two Vizient experts […]

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Anticipating 2024: Healthcare Executives’ Budget & Strategy Plans

December 3, 2023

Becker’s asked C-suite executives from hospitals and health systems across the U.S. to share their organization’s areas of growth for the next few years.  The 49 executives featured in this article are all speaking at the Becker’s Healthcare 11th Annual CEO+CFO Roundtable on Nov. 13-16, 2023, at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. To learn more about this event, click here. If you would like to join as a speaker or a reviewer, contact Mariah Muhammad […]

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Learn How to Dispose of Your Used or Expired EpiPen

December 3, 2023

It’s common for people with severe food allergies to carry an EpiPen. This is a pen-like device prefilled with a drug called epinephrine that you inject into yourself in the event of an allergic emergency. The injection immediately opens the airways and relieves potentially life-threatening symptoms of severe allergic reactions like anaphylaxis. Having an EpiPen nearby is a precautionary measure that can save your life if you are accidentally exposed to an allergy-causing substance (an […]

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Sounding the Alarm About Disposable Plastic in Health Care

December 3, 2023

Yale’s Jodi Sherman says the health care industry must balance public health and planetary health when considering the use of disposable plastic items. To Jodi Sherman’s way of thinking, the Hippocratic Oath’s vow of doing no harm includes doing no harm to the planet — particularly when it comes to the sea of single-use plastic flooding the health care industry. Sherman, an associate professor of anesthesiology at Yale School of Medicine and of epidemiology in environmental […]

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Curtis Bay Energy Pleads Guilty to Improper Handling of Special Medical Waste

October 26, 2023

Curtis Bay Energy, the owner and operator of a medical waste incinerator facility in Baltimore, has pleaded guilty to charges related to the insufficient treatment and improper handling of special medical waste and the operation and concealment of an unpermitted discharge outlet. This sentence marks one of the largest penalties for an environmental criminal case administered by the Maryland attorney general’s office. Curtis Bay Energy has been placed on a 2-year probation and ordered to […]

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Impact of a Positive Patient Safety Climate on Infection Prevention Practices

October 26, 2023

New data published in the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC) provide the first published evidence that a positive safety climate and adherence to standard precautions predict key health care–associated infection (HAI) and occupational health outcomes among patients and health care workers, respectively. The findings highlight features within hospitals’ organizations and safety climates that could be modified to improve these outcomes. “Despite the infection prevention and safety benefits associated with standard precautions, generating consistent adherence […]

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Becton Dickinson, Casella Complete Pilot Recycling Used Medical Devices

October 26, 2023

This content was written and submitted by the supplier. It has only been modified to comply with this publication’s space and style. Becton Dickinson and Casella Waste Systems have announced the most recent results of a recycling pilot to manage discarded syringes and needles that led to 40,000 lb of medical waste being recycled and diverted from disposal. The circular economy pilot, which took place in the first half of 2023, was the first large-scale […]

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OSHA Gets Ball Rolling on Proposed Rule on Workplace Violence in Healthcare Facilities

October 10, 2023

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently took a major first step toward developing its anticipated standard regarding violence in the healthcare setting, titled “Prevention of Workplace Violence in Healthcare and Social Assistance.” On March 1, 2023, OSHA convened a Small Business Advocacy Review (SBAR) panel—an initial step in formulating a new standard that gives representatives of small businesses and small local government entities an opportunity for input. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration […]

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