Presentation of hospital waste management model at the source of production: systems dynamics approach

Today, waste management is one of the important pillars of resource management in hospitals. The purpose of this study was to identify the effective factors in the management of special medical wastes at the source of their production, to analyze these factors, and to determine the most effective ones to improve the quality of management of such wastes.

In this research, the basics and dynamic components of systems were used to investigate the performance of hospital waste management in this field. For this purpose, the main indicators of the organization's performance were extracted from the research literature. Then, using the concepts of system dynamics, the effect of these factors was shown in the form of cause and effect diagrams. To explain the function of the proposed model, research variables were examined in the form of different scenarios to determine the effectiveness of each in different conditions.

According to the presented flow diagram and the proposed scenarios, it was found that by using the optimal scenario, the various variables of the research, such as decontamination rate, collection, and unauthorized entry into urban waste reservoirs, through the explained relationships of the model in it improves about 15 to 40 percent.

The results obtained in this research ultimately lead to the reduction of environmental risks as well as the reduction of hazardous waste production, which can be a basis for explaining waste management strategies in medical centers.