title: Survey of the major sources of waste in the health care units of a teaching hospital.
abstract: The objectives of this study were to survey the different types of waste, their causes and suggestions to eliminate them according to the opinion of the nursing and medical staff from the Clinical Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics, Rooming-In, and Nursery Units; and estimate the cost of the major source of waste found in the referred units. This descriptive, explorative study was performed at the University of São Paulo Teaching Hospital using a quantitative approach. The study sample consisted of 189 medical and nursing professionals. Material waste (36%) was the most often reported by all professional categories, followed by physical structure waste (27%). The most reported wasted materials were medicines, dressing packs, stationary paper, and infusion devices The estimated annual cost of material waste in the studied units is about R$ 479.262,86.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Orientação Profissional, Escola de Enfermagem, Universidade São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil, valeriac@usp.br.
authors.forename: Valéria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Castilho
authors.forename: Liliana Cristina de
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.forename: Andréa Tamancoldi
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Couto
authors.forename: Flávia de Oliveira Motta
authors.initials: Fde O
authors.lastname: Maia
authors.forename: Nair Yoko
authors.initials: NY
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.forename: Felicía Hiromi
authors.initials: FH
authors.lastname: Nomura
authors.forename: Antonio Fernandes Costa
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Lima
authors.forename: Vera Lúcia
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Mira
authors.forename: Paula Manzatti
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Loyolla
mesh_terms: D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires