title: Analysis of the healthcare waste management status in Tehran hospitals.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Considering the importance of healthcare waste management, following the ratification of the Waste Management law in 2005 and the subsequent approval of its executive bylaw in 2006 and finally the healthcare waste management criteria passing by the parliament in 2008, a review on the status of healthcare waste management is needed to implement the mentioned law properly.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In this retrospective study during six months period all public hospitals in Iran's capital city, Tehran, were selected to conduct the survey. Data collected through an expert-standardized questionnaire was analyzed by using SPSS software. The results of the current status of healthcare waste management in Tehran hospitals showed 5.6% of hospitals were ranked excellent, 50.7% good, 26.4% medium, and the 13.9% of hospitals were ranked weak and 3.5% ranked very poor.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings showed that appropriate technologies should be used to have better disposal stage. As the ratified criteria were not fully observed by all the selected hospitals, training courses and comprehensive program conducting by each hospital could be enjoyed as practical tools to implement the all stages of healthcare waste management properly.
authors.affiliation: Environmental and occupational Health centre, Ministry of Health and Medical Education, 11th floor, Simaye Iran St, Tehran, 1467664961 Iran.
authors.forename: Fariba
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Malekahmadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health and Institute for Environmental Health Engineering Tehran University Of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Masud
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yunesian
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health and Institute for Environmental Health Engineering Tehran University Of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Kamyar
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yaghmaeian
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health and Institute for Environmental Health Engineering Tehran University Of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Kazem
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nadafi
keywords: Collection; Disposal; Healthcare waste; Healthcare waste management; Segregation; Temporary storage; Transportation; Treatment