Do Hospitals Sterilize their Medical Waste?

Before diving into the main topic, it is important to know the difference between sterilizing and disinfecting. These two terms are familiar words used in health safety procedures. However, they are mistakenly interchanged because of the lack of knowledge regarding these terms.

Sterilization is an act of destroying all microbial life through physical or chemical elimination. On the other hand, disinfection is an act of only eliminating microorganisms that cause diseases. Disinfecting does not include bacterial spores such as aerobic and anaerobic species.

In most cases, medical equipment is sterilized to prevent any contamination or transmission of diseases to the patient or health officers. Sterilization of medical waste also helps prevent any contamination for individuals that will come in contact with the medical waste.

Autoclaving, also known as steam sterilization, is considered to be the most effective sterilization treatment for medical waste.

However, one disadvantage of this treatment is the production of aerosolize chemicals found in the medical waste. This would cause harmful effects to the environment and specifically to the operator of the Autoclave machine.

o    Incineration
o    Gas Sterilization
o    Chemical Disinfection
o    Microwave Technology Treatment
o    Irradiation
Each hospital and health facility chooses the most suitable treatment for managing their medical waste from these available medical waste treatments. The chosen treatment is different since each facility has different management needs and requirements. Whichever sterilization treatment is chosen, health facilities must comply with guidelines implemented by the healthcare authorities when disposing of their medical wastes.