Medical Waste at School? Back To School Means It’s Time to Review Medical Waste Protocols
Medical waste removal is not exclusive to healthcare facilities. Red Bags also serves colleges and universities, too.
As the summer comes to an end, students are heading back to campus for another year of learning. It’s a perfect time for campuses and health centers to review their medical waste procedures. Why medical waste? Colleges and universities are generators of regulated medical waste, and must dispose of this waste in accordance with federal and state regulations. Where, exactly is medical waste produced in an educational facility? Colleges and universities typically offer on-site care for students at on-campus health offices, and of course, there are medical colleges that deal with medical waste day-in and day-out, whether it’s for nursing programs, medical degree programs, dental programs, and veterinary programs.
Medical Colleges
For medical colleges, medical waste is produced in courses that deal with the study of bacteria, microbiology, hematology, immunology, phlebotomy, and other clinical sciences in a lab setting.
These facilities produce medical waste in the form of lab cultures and stocks of infectious agents for study, animal parts, tissues, fluids, and carcasses from teaching laboratories, sharps waste including hypodermic needles, syringes, scalpels, razor blades, knives, lancets, and disposable surgical instruments. For dental schools, this includes dental wires and disposable dental instruments.
Campus Health Centers
On-campus health offices offer basic care to students who require medical attention, therefore conduct health checks using a myriad of medical equipment, from swabs to gauze to sharps that must also be disposed of properly. This also goes for colleges that have on-site EMS.
Just like any hospital or other facility that produces medical waste, these institutions are subject to the same rules and regulations when disposing medical waste.
Medical waste must be segregated at the point of generation and placed in the proper container. Sharps waste must be collected at the point of generation in a rigid, puncture-resistant container that is certified by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration.
Red Bags is proud to service medical colleges, veterinary colleges, dental schools, and university health offices for compliant, legal, and safe medical waste removal. We also offer our online OSHA Compliance Training program for university staff for the safest handling and transmission of medical waste.
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Service Areas: Long Island Medical Waste; New York City Medical Waste; Westchester Medical Waste and more!