Managing healthcare and dental waste can be a tricky task, but completing it correctly can have ethical connotations.
Clinicians have a responsibility to protect the health of colleagues, patients, and the environment. Waste produced in dentistry puts each of these at risk, so correct actions should be taken at each step of the disposal workflow.
Environmental responsibilities
The link between dental waste and the environment is clear, and one that has been discussed extensively. It has even affected clinical guidance, as seen with the NHS clinical waste strategy, which was implemented in March 2023.
The NHS clinical waste strategy had the following aims:
- Eliminate unnecessary waste
- Increase reuse where appropriate
- Reduce carbon emissions by 30% over 10 years
- Set the course for net zero by 2040
Following current NHS waste guidance ensures clinicians can reduce their harm to the environment. This includes segregating items across colour-coded waste streams, as seen in Health Technical Memorandum 07-01 (HTM 07-01). Clinicians need to follow this as it ensures only highly hazardous waste is incinerated, and puts some infectious items into a waste stream that promotes alternative treatment.
Clinical teams need to remember to split these items appropriately according to the risks they present. Posters, like those from Initial Medical, at points of use can be effective reminders which help the environment in the long run.
Responsibilities to avoid injury
Waste items can present a range of hazards to people, from infection to cytotoxicity. One other potential for harm is from ‘a sharps’ injury.
These are extremely common for healthcare workers, one systematic review found reports that incidence of sharps exposure among professionals in the previous year ranged from 3.33%, 6.25% and 5.88% all the way to 39% and 32%. Such a large disparity could be put down to inconsistent reporting compared to actual experiences.
Clinicians should think of the amount of people that could be injured by a sharp object that isn’t placed correctly into a sharps bin, but is instead placed in a waste bag. First, the patient and clinical team are at risk if the item isn’t managed carefully, including when the bag is moved through the practice. Then, when the waste bag is handled by a dedicated waste management service other individuals may be put at risk.
With so many people potentially affected, it is important to consider how sharps are disposed of in the practice.
Patients and pharmaceuticals
When a patient needs an anaesthetic or pharmaceuticals for dental treatment, they implicitly rely on the dental team to use medication of a guaranteed high quality. This exclusively includes pharmaceuticals that are not expired.
To ensure this is possible, the dental team has to safely store medication, and be able to dispose of out-of-date products when required. Storing expired and still-to-be-used items separately avoids confusion.
HTM 07-01 states that pharmaceutical waste items need to be stored in a blue lidded container, with sharps, solids and liquids all separated.
Using effective waste containers from Initial Medical ensures you are completely compliant, and helps protect clinicians, patients and the environment. This includes the Griff Pac container, an eco-friendly solution that is colour-coded, for example, in blue for pharmaceutical disposal.
Learn more about the steps you can take to ethically manage dental waste by contacting the Initial Medical team today.