Industrial Engineering Graduate Program, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
School of Production Engineering and Management, Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2023 Mar;30(11):29206-29228. doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-24035-z. Epub 2022 Nov 21.
The management of healthcare waste and end-of-life medication coming from different sources are primary challenges faced by public health leaders. Several factors may be considered critical and inhibitive to reverse logistics within the context of waste management processes. If those factors are not addressed, they may become obstacles to reverse logistics implementation. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect that critical factors play in the adoption of end-of-life management practices for medication and its influence on logistics performance. Literature provided some critical factors: management factor, collaboration factor, information technology factor, infrastructure factor, politics factor, financial and economic factor, end-of-life management practices, and logistics performance factor. A sample of 67 professionals from the public pharmaceutical care process answered a structured questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using partial least square-structural equation modeling. The theoretical structural test confirmed eleven out of the fifteen hypotheses considered. The results have indicated that end-of-life management practices exert a direct influence on logistics performance. The analysis confirmed a direct effect of the information technology factor on end-of-life management practices, but not a moderation effect. Findings have contributed to the literature by providing deeper insights into the relationship between end-of-life management practices for medicines and logistics performance. Moreover, it supports health managers' decision-making in the pharmaceutical care process improvement and engagement with solid waste management policies.
医疗废物和临终药物的管理来自不同的来源，这是公共卫生领导者面临的主要挑战。在废物管理过程中，有几个因素可能被认为是对逆向物流至关重要和抑制的。如果这些因素得不到解决，它们可能成为逆向物流实施的障碍。本研究的目的是评估关键因素在药物临终管理实践的采用中所起的作用及其对物流绩效的影响。文献提供了一些关键因素：管理因素、合作因素、信息技术因素、基础设施因素、政治因素、财务和经济因素、临终管理实践和物流绩效因素。公共制药护理过程中的 67 名专业人员对一份结构化问卷进行了回答。使用偏最小二乘-结构方程模型对收集到的数据进行了分析。理论结构测试证实了考虑的十五个假设中的十一个。结果表明，临终管理实践对物流绩效有直接影响。分析证实了信息技术因素对临终管理实践有直接影响，但没有调节作用。研究结果通过深入了解药物临终管理实践与物流绩效之间的关系，为文献做出了贡献。此外，它支持卫生管理人员在制药护理过程改进和参与固体废物管理政策方面的决策。
