Assessment of knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding medical waste management among operation room personnel in a tertiary hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Medical waste management (MWM) is of concern to the medical and surgical communities in the hospital. Adequate knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding the management of healthcare waste are important for the proper handling and disposal by physicians and healthcare workers. Objective: The aim of this study was an assessment of knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding medical waste management among operation room personnel in a tertiary hospital. Methods: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional survey conducted at a single-center government Comprehensive Specialized Hospital operation room from 1–30 September 2022. All specialty operation room healthcare personnel consenting to cooperate and participate were included in the study. The data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS. The results were presented in texts, tables and graphs. Results: From 130 operation room personnel, the results revealed that the majority of the total respondents were male (83.1%). Only 30 (23.1%) of the respondents were involved in training, whereas 100 (76.9%) of the study participants have not participated in training. It was found that 86 (66.2%) of the respondents had good knowledge, 113 (86.9%) of the respondents had a good attitude, and 27 (20.8%) of the respondents had good practice. Conclusion and recommendation: The authors’ study reveals that the majority of study participants have a moderate level of knowledge, a good level of attitude, and poor levels of practice, according to Bloom’s cut-off point. The institution should more fully implement the training for operation room personnel to improve their level of knowledge and practice of medical waste management.