Improving Texas Home Healthcare Waste Management Policies and Practices: The Role of the Environmental Toxicologist
Andrea D. Ashley-Oyewole

Abstract
Many healthcare related debates often overlook the fact that a considerable amount of waste is being produced daily and on a global scale in the home healthcare industry. While health care facilities may have strict measures for proper management and disposal of biomedical waste, private homes of patients receiving in-home medical care pose a greater challenge with regard to these established measures (Oyewole, Sapp, Wilson, & Oyewole, 2014a). This is primarily due to the fact that it is very difficult logistically to ensure complete compliance in a patient’s home and many policy decisions may miss the unnoticeable toxicological impacts associated with this point source (Kangasniemi, Kallio, & Pietilä, 2014). More consideration needs to be given to the inclusion of Environmental toxicologists in these debates. He/she can support efforts to improve weak waste management policies in Texas home healthcare to protect the public and the environment.

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