Ensino sobre gerenciamento de resíduos na graduação em enfermagem: realidade, reflexões e propostas

Abstract

Health Services Waste (HSW) is a complex problem with a strong interface between public health and environmental issues. In this perspective, nurses must break with the paradigm that professional responsibility ends in the technical act, and pay attention, above all, to the proper management of waste generated in the care process, aiming to safeguard human health and the environment. For this to happen, it is essential that the competencies and skills for HSW are learned from graduation, demanding from future professionals responsible and conscious behavior. The present work of completion of the course of the Professional Master in Health Education (MPES) is composed of a research and an intervention product on the theme. The research aimed to know the perception of Nursing students on Health Services Waste Management (HSWM). The methodology was based on a qualitative, descriptive approach and used the Focus Group (GF) technique, with seven students from the fourth period of the undergraduate nursing course at a public university in northeastern Brazil. The GF addressed the topics: biosafety, HSW and HSWM management concepts, learning opportunities about HSWM during the course, consequences of inappropriate HSW disposal, and the role of nurses in the HSWM. The data produced were interpreted, according to the content analysis in the thematic mode according to Bardin (2011) and Malheiros (2011). As a result, the following categories of analysis emerged from the GF: Students' knowledge about HSW; The nurse's actions regarding the management of HSW, in the students' perception; and, The students' training process on the HSWM theme. The teaching on HSW proved to be fragmented, lacking in depth and conceptual breadth. In the practical context, it was found that the experiences they take place, most of the time, in the hospital environment, requiring diverse practice scenarios. They recognized the nurse as responsible for the Health Services Waste Management Plan (PHSWM) and highlighted Permanent Health Education (PHE) as a strategy to train the team on the theme, which implies looking beyond health practices. Nevertheless, the academy must foster and stimulate learning on the subject through innovative, contextualized, articulated and problematized teaching methodologies with an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach. The results of the research motivated the production of the practical guide on HSWM. This intervention product aimed to contribute to the learning of essential questions on the theme, considering the principles of biosafety, preservation of public health and the environment. The guide was divided into four parts: concepts, history of legislation, classification and stages of implementation of the PHSWM. And its target population was students and health professionals, especially nurses.