Actual state of home-care waste disposal at home-visit nursing stations in Japan: A descriptive questionnaire survey

I conducted a questionnaire survey with the aim of figure out the problems involved in the disposal of infectious waste at home-visit nursing stations, in its handling during nursing-care home visits, etc. From among the home-visit nursing stations registered at the National Association for Home-visit Nursing Care, 1,965 stations were selected at random, and questionnaires were sent to them. Nurses at 1,308 stations (66.5%) responded to the survey. After excluding 26 stations that were closed and 5 stations that do not generate waste because their main care field is psychiatry, an analysis of the remaining 1,277 stations was made. It was found that 79.3% of the nurses recovered medical waste from the patients' homes when they visited them. The most frequently observed supplies not recovered were injection needles, tubes and bags. The most frequently observed answer to the question, ‘Do you have any trouble in recovering medical waste at home visits?’ was ‘I always have to carry the waste about with me after the first visit’ (45.0%), followed by ‘I'm afraid of getting injured by the waste’ (29.1%) and ‘The waste is malodorous’ (27.8%). Therefore, as measures to cope with these difficulties, it is necessary to provide the nurses with containers for medical waste suited to home-visit nursing care and tools for preventing injuries.