Affiliation:
1. Healthcare Management Postgraduate Program, Open University Cyprus, P.O. Box 12794, Nicosia 2252, Cyprus
Abstract
Any hospital’s primary goal is to restore human health and save lives through health services provided to patients, but at the same time, hazardous wastes are produced. Inconsistent management of unsafe wastes might cause adverse effects and other issues for workers, the environment, and public health. Segregation is considered the critical stage in successful medical waste management. Mixing hazardous medical waste with non-hazardous medical waste will be avoided by correctly applying practices at the segregation stage. This study aimed to assess personnel’s knowledge about infectious medical waste and segregation practices used at six wards in Nicosia General Hospital. An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted, and data were collected through a structured self-administered questionnaire. The Statistical Package of Social Science (SPPS) version 25 was used with a minimum statistical significance of α = 0.05. The study population was nurses, nurse assistants, ward assistants, and cleaners working at the study wards. Out of 191 questionnaires, 82 were received, with a response rate of 42.93%. Most participants were female (72%) and nurses (85.4%). Participants had moderate knowledge about infectious medical waste management and good knowledge regarding segregation practices applied in their ward. Segregation was not carried out as it should have been, since most participants stated that infectious medical waste was mixed with non-hazardous medical waste. The number of correct answers the participants gave regarding the colour-coding of different medical waste categories was 67.5%, and only four answered correctly to all questions. Although participants knew segregation practices and the colour-coding process applied to medical waste, they did not use them satisfactorily. They applied methods regarding segregation without specific training, knowledge and guidance. Due to the issue’s importance, training programs must be implemented and performed.
Subject
Health Information Management,Health Informatics,Health Policy,Leadership and Management
Reference55 articles.
1. Clinical solid waste management practices and its impact on human health and environment—A review;Hossain;Waste Manag.,2011
2. Chartier, Y. (2014). Safe Management of Wastes from Health-Care Activities, World Health Organization.
3. Ahmad, R., Liu, G., Santagata, R., Casazza, M., Xue, J., Khan, K., Nawab, J., Ulgiati, S., and Lega, M. (2019). LCA of hospital solid waste treatment alternatives in a developing country: The case of district Swat, Pakistan. Sustainability, 11.
4. A knowledge, attitude and practice study of biomedical waste management and bio-safety among healthcare Workers in a Tertiary Care Government Hospital in Western India;Mehta;Natl. J. Community Med.,2018
5. Assessment of Healthcare Waste Management in Hospitals of South Lebanon;Tfaily;BAU J. Health Wellbeing,2020
Cited by
2 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献