DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF INFECTIOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT MODEL IN COMMUNITY: A CASE STUDY OF HOME HEALTHCARE IN U-THONG DISTRICT, SUPHAN BURI PROVINCE

Abstract

          The objective of this research is to analyze the situations and develop a community infectious waste management model in U-Thong District in Suphan Buri Province. This action research was divided into three phases: situation analysis, development and trial of the infectious waste management model for cancer patients who received care at home, and post-trial evaluation of the results. The 189 cases in the study population were categorized into three patient groups: patients receiving peritoneal dialysis, patients with insulin-dependent diabetes, and bed-bound patients with chronic wounds. The data were collected via survey form and observation and analyzed using descriptive statistics and McNemar’s test statistics; the gap was analyzed using Gap analysis and the community infectious waste management model was created. The results revealed that the infectious waste generation rates from home health care, bed-bound patients with chronic wounds, peritoneal dialysis patients, and diabetic patients were 1.44±0.70, 2.90±2.70, and 0.16±0.03 kg/patient/day, respectively. In the first phase (before developing the infection waste management pattern), only 4.13% of total infectious waste was collected for the infectious waste management system. The community infectious waste management pattern was developed by promoting waste separation and either transporting it to local hospitals or recycling it. Following the implementation, the amount of infectious waste properly collected in the infectious waste management system increased by 22.5%. The comparative analysis was done by testing the McNemar’s test at a Level of Sig (p)<0.001. It was found that the proper disposal of infectious waste in the community during the post-modulation period significantly improved from the pre-modulation period.