WE LEARN FROM MISTAKES: THE WASTE MANAGEMENT PROCESS Assit. Prof. Dr. Alparslan Kapısız, N.S. Elif Baş, M.D. Zakire Uslu, R.N. Fatma Eren Trabzon Fatih State Hospital, Trabzon, Turkey Introduction: Errors are individual actions or decisions that are inevitably made in all organizations, causing deviations from the target at an imperfect rate, thus endangering the achievement of the planned goal. In addition to the many negative emotions that errors create, they also include valuable processesthat provide natural learning when controlled and managed. Error management culture aimsto accept the error that occurs, share it transparently, detect and resolve it quickly, and contribute to organizational processes by utilizing errors. In addition, sharing and analyzing information contributes to the creation of effective improvement activities. Purpose: The purpose of our study is to address and evaluate the problems encountered in the waste management process within the scope of error management culture. Method: Negative user factors will be determined and examined in medical-hazardous waste types that are tracked on a unit basis and based on information systems. Findings: Most of the information systems used in hospitals providing health services are functional level information systems based on record processing. However, in orderto benefit from the collected data, information systemsshould be evaluated as management-strategic level information systems that include tactical or strategic decisions. In this context, in our study initiated as effective waste management, it was noticed that the system we used for data processing lacked a tracking system that could explain the deviations in the data. This situation remained incomplete due to the fact that it did not include the necessary analytical information during the presentation of the waste study, which wasthought to be done effectively, and explanation buttons were added to the tracking graphics and the changes were recorded simultaneously. On the other hand, the rates of ‘contaminated culture ’and ‘hemolyzed or clotted sample’, which also affected the increase in the amount of waste in the laboratory, attracted attention. It was determined that the contamination rates and hemolyzed or clotted sample collections were at high levels in urine and blood cultures sent from many units. The rates were reduced in every area by discussing the reasons with the stakeholders in the weekly meetings, making material changes, renewing the trainings with up-to-date information and making the feedbacks on a unit basis. In addition, vials containing paracetamol, which has a high impact on the amount of hazardous waste, have begun to be collected for use in ourstudy called ‘From Waste to Transformation’. The vials are cleaned with chlorine tablet solution and prepared as accessories. Since the collected vials were notspecified as types before the study, many vials of medication were collected and it was determined that there were problematic areas. Accordingly; antibiotic-active medications were withdrawn and applied without waiting for complete dilution, and the time required for the medication to dissolve was not waited. In addition, not all of the liquid medications could be ensured to flow from the set, and 5-10 ml of medication remained in the discarded paracetamol vials. The errors detected and the importance of medication errors were shared with the relevant employees, and the risks posed by dose loss for the patient were discussed. As a result, it was observed that the problem did not continue in the collected vials. Finally, it was determined that urine was collected from patients who were asked for a complete urine test and urine culture at the sample collection units with two separate sample containers. The two sample collection containers given to patients create confusion regarding which one should be given priority and cause collections that result in contamination. Sterile and vacuum sample cups were introduced to solve the relevantsituation. Thus, two samples can be studied with a single sample taken from patients, the contamination rate is reduced and the amount of medical waste is reduced with a single urine container per patient. Conclusion: The punishment-based application in the classical error approach only covers up errors and paves the way for the continuation of the problem. Work environments inherently contain the error factor. In this context, an error management culture that learns from errors and prevents their recurrence should be developed in organizations, and managers should adopt a system approach to errors.