Nomenclature for Healthcare Waste in the Healthcare Sector and Its Alignment with the Provisions Made by The World Health Organization’s Manual for Healthcare Waste Management: A Scoping Review

There is lack of uniform nomenclature for healthcare waste (HCW) globally, which could undermine efforts to develop and implement appropriate policies relating to healthcare waste management (HCWM) in developing countries. This study sought to understand the terminologies used to describe HCW, inclu...

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Main Author: Lydia Hangulu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018-11-01
Series:Recycling
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2313-4321/3/4/51
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author Lydia Hangulu
author_facet Lydia Hangulu
author_sort Lydia Hangulu
collection DOAJ
description There is lack of uniform nomenclature for healthcare waste (HCW) globally, which could undermine efforts to develop and implement appropriate policies relating to healthcare waste management (HCWM) in developing countries. This study sought to understand the terminologies used to describe HCW, including their definitions, categories, classification, and how they align with those that are provided by the World Health Organization (WHO)’s global manual for HCWM from healthcare facilities. The study first identified terms from the existing literature; then, it conceptually mapped the literature, and identified gaps and areas of further inquiry. Six electronic databases—EBSCOhost, Open Access, ProQuest, PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were used to search for literature. A total of 112 studies were included in the study. Despite having various nomenclature for HCW globally that align with those provided by the WHO manual, the use of varying nomenclature could create confusion among healthcare workers in the quest of managing HCW properly, especially in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Further studies must be conducted to determine how these terminologies are interpreted and implemented in practice by healthcare workers. This will help to understand how their implementation aligns with the recommendations provided by the WHO manual.
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spelling doaj.art-269cc43fb59b40f1bb15c25d68a71e0d2022-12-22T00:14:55ZengMDPI AGRecycling2313-43212018-11-013451010.3390/recycling3040051recycling3040051Nomenclature for Healthcare Waste in the Healthcare Sector and Its Alignment with the Provisions Made by The World Health Organization’s Manual for Healthcare Waste Management: A Scoping ReviewLydia Hangulu0Discipline of Psychology, Health Promotion Programme, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South AfricaThere is lack of uniform nomenclature for healthcare waste (HCW) globally, which could undermine efforts to develop and implement appropriate policies relating to healthcare waste management (HCWM) in developing countries. This study sought to understand the terminologies used to describe HCW, including their definitions, categories, classification, and how they align with those that are provided by the World Health Organization (WHO)’s global manual for HCWM from healthcare facilities. The study first identified terms from the existing literature; then, it conceptually mapped the literature, and identified gaps and areas of further inquiry. Six electronic databases—EBSCOhost, Open Access, ProQuest, PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were used to search for literature. A total of 112 studies were included in the study. Despite having various nomenclature for HCW globally that align with those provided by the WHO manual, the use of varying nomenclature could create confusion among healthcare workers in the quest of managing HCW properly, especially in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Further studies must be conducted to determine how these terminologies are interpreted and implemented in practice by healthcare workers. This will help to understand how their implementation aligns with the recommendations provided by the WHO manual.https://www.mdpi.com/2313-4321/3/4/51healthcare wastehealthcare workershealth sectorscoping reviewWHO
spellingShingle Lydia Hangulu
Nomenclature for Healthcare Waste in the Healthcare Sector and Its Alignment with the Provisions Made by The World Health Organization’s Manual for Healthcare Waste Management: A Scoping Review
Recycling
healthcare waste
healthcare workers
health sector
scoping review
WHO
title Nomenclature for Healthcare Waste in the Healthcare Sector and Its Alignment with the Provisions Made by The World Health Organization’s Manual for Healthcare Waste Management: A Scoping Review
title_full Nomenclature for Healthcare Waste in the Healthcare Sector and Its Alignment with the Provisions Made by The World Health Organization’s Manual for Healthcare Waste Management: A Scoping Review
title_fullStr Nomenclature for Healthcare Waste in the Healthcare Sector and Its Alignment with the Provisions Made by The World Health Organization’s Manual for Healthcare Waste Management: A Scoping Review
title_full_unstemmed Nomenclature for Healthcare Waste in the Healthcare Sector and Its Alignment with the Provisions Made by The World Health Organization’s Manual for Healthcare Waste Management: A Scoping Review
title_short Nomenclature for Healthcare Waste in the Healthcare Sector and Its Alignment with the Provisions Made by The World Health Organization’s Manual for Healthcare Waste Management: A Scoping Review
title_sort nomenclature for healthcare waste in the healthcare sector and its alignment with the provisions made by the world health organization s manual for healthcare waste management a scoping review
topic healthcare waste
healthcare workers
health sector
scoping review
WHO
url https://www.mdpi.com/2313-4321/3/4/51
work_keys_str_mv AT lydiahangulu nomenclatureforhealthcarewasteinthehealthcaresectoranditsalignmentwiththeprovisionsmadebytheworldhealthorganizationsmanualforhealthcarewastemanagementascopingreview