title: A qualitative study of the causes of improper segregation of infectious waste at Nemazee Hospital, Shiraz, Iran.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Medical waste management is a major concern for healthcare facilities. One important element is the segregation of infectious waste from domestic, non-infectious waste. The aim of this qualitative study was to identify factors that negatively affect proper segregation at Nemazee Hospital, which is affiliated with Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.
  
  
  METHODS
  Study data came from focus groups involving hospital workers. Participants expressed their opinions regarding barriers to proper segregation of medical wastes. The participants gave their permission to have their comments recorded. Data analyses were based on a grounded theory approach.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results indicated that managerial weakness was an important factor in suboptimal disposal of medical waste. It appears that hospital authorities should pay better attention to educational planning, organizational resources and supervision. Together, these considerations should help reduce waste-management errors. The results also suggest that healthcare worker training needs improvement. In general, patients and their companions, as well as the local population, did not appear to have sufficient knowledge concerning disposal of infectious medical waste.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Hospital authorities should conduct a broad review of medical waste management, including improved employee training. This step should have a positive effect on local health, as well as the environment. Improvement is also needed in the infection prevention performance of hospital healthcare workers. This approach should reduce additional production of infectious waste and costs associated with healthcare.
authors.affiliation: Student Research Committee, Department of Community Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahbobeh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oroei
authors.affiliation: Student Research Committee, Department of Community Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Momeni
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Biology, Infection Control Research and Services, Indiana University School of Dentistry, Indianapolis, IN, USA.
authors.forename: Charles J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Palenik
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Danaei
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Shiraz Nephrology Urology Research Center, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Electronic address: askariam@sums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Mehrdad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Askarian
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006302:Health Services Research; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D017744:Medical Waste Disposal / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D017744:Medical Waste Disposal
keywords: Focus groups; Infectious medical waste; Infectious wastes; Waste handling; Waste management