October 13th is World Hospice and Palliative Care Day
World Hospice and Palliative Care Day is a unified day of action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care around the world.
World Hospice and Palliative Care Day is a unified day of action to celebrate and support hospice and palliative care around the world. Hospice caregivers offer guidance and support to help patients get access to hospice benefits, as they face the many challenges of living with a life-limiting illness. This year’s theme dwells much on three main objectives: equity for access to palliative care services, quality of health services, and protection of people from finance risks related to access for health services.
Hospice and palliative care support includes having a medical waste disposal plan in place.
According to the World Health Organization, the total amount of waste generated by healthcare related services that is general waste is about 80 percent, whereas 20 percent is considered hazardous material that could be infectious. The largest source of healthcare-related waste is, of course, hospitals, but assisted living and hospice care facilities are a close second.
Medical waste is not limited to sharps and lancets; regulated medical waste, or RMW, is defined by the CDC as “waste sufficiently capable of causing infection during handling and disposal.” This also includes blood-soaked dressings, surgical gloves, all of which require proper handling and disposal.
Because healthcare waste contains microorganisms, which can be harmful to other residents and staff at hospice facilities, it is imperative to have a hospice medical waste disposal plan in place. Inadequate training of proper waste management, absence of waste management and disposal systems means everyone is at risk.
Hospice and palliative care includes IV medication administration, dressing changes, and other comfort and support care measures. There is also a variety of other services, including disease management and wound care, all of which result in medical waste.
Red Bags is proud to support the efforts of hospice and palliative care staff through safe and compliant medical waste disposal so they can focus on the job they do best: caring and supporting patients and their families during a crucial time.
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