The outbreak of Ebola has raised questions about the correct handling of contaminated biohazardous medical waste, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, the Association of Surgical Technologists and the International Association of Healthcare Central Service Materials Management, issued a joint statement on processing biohazardous medical waste.
The statement is intended to provide guidance to personnel and healthcare organizations for handling biohazardous medical waste, including waste contaminated with the Ebola virus, according to the release on the Infection Control Today website.
The groups' recommendations include:
• Biohazardous medical waste should not be brought into clean areas where processing reusable medical devices is performed
• Biohazardous medical waste should not be inactivated in a sterilizer that is used for processing reusable medical devices
• Organizations should work with infection preventionists and keep abreast of evolving professional and regulatory guidelines
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