PERCEPÇÃO DA EQUIPE DE ENFERMAGEM NA EXECUÇÃO DO PLANO DE GERENCIAMENTO DE RESÍDUOS DOS SERVIÇOS DE SAÚDE (PGRSS): IMPACTO AMBIENTAL E RISCOS OCUPACIONAIS

Abstract

Hospital waste is contaminating, hazzardous to human health and agressive to the environment. The production of waste from health services from its origin to its final destination is ruled by the Resolution of the Collegial Directory RDC Nº306, of December 7th 2004, of the Brazilian National Agency for Sanitary Vigilance - ANVISA . Every producer of this type of waste is held to work out a Plan for Waste Management based on their characteristics and classification. The entity must determine and supervise internally the tasks that are needed to comply with legal determinations. The aim of this study is to describe how nursing professionals in the Clinical Hospital of Goiânia position themselves in relation to the treatment of waste. Method: The study is descriptive, exploratory and qualitative. The answers of seventeen nursing professionals to an inventory were analyzed according to the principles of Grounded Theory. Results: Participants showed a clearer consciousness of the impact of the execution of the Plan on the environment (water, soil and biodiversity) than on human health. The professionals have no clear view on the contributions of the Plan on public health or on their own security and health. On top of this, few participants consider the economic social impacts of the final destination of the waste. They show a surprising lack of knowledge of the details of the Plan, complain about a lack of information and deficient training, as well as of insufficient action from the hospital administration. The lack of structural resources (being of the hospital s responsability) was also mentioned as a reason for non-compliance of the required steps of waste processing. Some professionals do not feel involved in questions related to waste/health because they consider administrators do not value these, which results in fragmented and inefficient actions. Despite all these problems, the professional sees he or she can contribute individually by correctly discarding certain types of waste, like the cutting materials. Besides, the professional s individual values are represented in his or her attitudes and interactions. The attitudes of team members influence those of the others, both positively and negatively. The approach to waste is treated in recent school curriculums. Professionals, who graduated some time ago, need to take specific courses to get to know the issue. Conclusion: There is still a long way to go before professionals will get sufficiently involved in the Plan. It is understood as a system that that benefits a natural environment that is distant from the professional s daily reality. Administrators should show in practice what importance the hospital allocates to the Plan and sustain that importance by relating it to an explicit concern for the professional s health. The new ideas should be spread among the older professionals. Relevant team opinions and attitudes should be monitored and supported where needed, avoiding that motivated professionals may feel without support by the hospital.