Responsibility of the health team in caring for the environment: Assessment from bioethics

Abstract

Background: Hospital establishments, like any other institution, are waste-producing sites which will require proper handling, transportation, treatment, and final disposal. The objective of this study is the bioethical analysis about the scale of responsibility that the health team has with respect to the care of the environment. Being able in this way, to find the shortcomings or weak points in which emphasis should be placed in order to promote a more sustainable work ethic and, therefore, a decrease in the production of hospital waste.The problem of contamination of natural environments directly affects the health of the population. This not only demands an urgent awareness about caring for the environment, but also invites the incorporation of reflection on the responsibility for the generation of waste in the area of health care, with the aim of generating specific policies and behaviors. and concrete. In this sense, personalistic bioethics is a useful tool, since it combines the world of health sciences with the assessment of human acts. Material and methods: A semi-structured, validated, anonymous and voluntary survey was carried out on 213 people who belong to the staff of the Francisco Santojanni Donation Hospital during the months of October-November of the year 2022. Results: It was obtained that 76.1% of the respondents have knowledge about the burning of potentially pathogenic waste. About 98.12% consider that there should be a program to reduce the pollution produced by hospitals and 98.6% would be willing to modify certain actions in order to achieve a hospital with lower levels of contamination. The 95.8% believe that the entire health team should actively participate in pollution reduction programs. Conclusion: Most of the surveyed want new, more environmentally and friendly measures to be implemented, but they agree that it should be addressed to all hospital staff and in all areas of the hospital in order to work together. It is clear that the life of people and communities cannot develop if it is not in relation to the environment, so the need to act responsibly in the health fields to protect the life and health of human beings from this and future generations.