Comparison of Hospital Waste Management by Health Care Workers In Two Selected (Private And Public) Hospitals In Enugu, South East Nigeria
Comparison of Hospital Waste Management By Health Care Workers
Keywords:
Hospital waste management, Health care workers, Public and Private Hospitals, Enugu, South-east NigeriaAbstract
Aim: To compare the management of hospital waste by health care workers in two selected (private and public) hospitals in Enugu, South East Nigeria. Method: A total of 245 health care workers aged between 20-50years working at the Enugu state university teaching hospital (public) and Ntasi-Obi Ndi no na Afufu specialist hospital (Private), both in Enugu, were seen within the period March and August 2017. Their age, sex, duration of work in the hospital and profession were taken. Their methods of management of hospital waste were assessed using questionnaires and oral interviews. The results were compared using chi-square (X2) test to determine if there were any significant differences. Result: Using the x2 test , the following results were obtained; Age- X2= 23.780, P-value=0.00; Religion- X2= 0.6528, P-value=0.419; Duration of work in the hospital; X2=7.718,Pvalue=0.102; Profession-X2=7.718,P-value=0.103; Categorization of hospital waste - X2= 0.2834, P-value=0.9919; Segregation of hospital waste X2=23.80, P-value= 0.00; Color-coding of hospital waste X2=11.8416, P-value=0.0186; Personal protection in handling of hospital waste- X2=16.6083, P-value=0.001; Correct disposal of hospital waste- X2=66.173, P-value= 0.000. There was a significant difference between the age distribution of respondents (P<0.05) in the private and public hospitals while there were no significant differences between religious disposition, duration of work in the hospitals, profession and categorization of hospital waste (P>0.05). Again there were significant differences between their methods of segregation of hospital waste, color-coding of hospital waste, personal protection in handling of hospital waste and correct disposal of hospital waste. Conclusion: There was a significant difference between the management of hospital waste by health care workers in the private and public health facilities as evidenced by the segregation, color-coding, personal protection and correct disposal of hospital waste. This could be attributed to the fact that the public hospitals have more resources for the training and retraining of their health workers and they also employ staff with better skills. We advocate the availability of strong management policy guidelines, training and retraining of health care workers and provision of better facilities for hospital waste management more especially in the private health facilities. This is more indicated in this era of HIV/AIDS where poor handling of hospital waste could lead to infection by the Human Immunodeficiency -virus. [Onoh L, Natl J Integr Res Med, 2018; 9(4):55-61]
References
2. Azage M, Kumie A. “Healthcare waste generation and its management system: The case of health centers in West Gojjam Zone, Amhara Region, Ethiopia.†Ethiopian Journal of Health Development. 2010; 24(2): 119–126.
3. World Health Organization (WHO). Unsafe injection practices and transmission of blood borne pathogens. Bul. World Health Org. 1999; 77:787–819.
4. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs281/en.
5. Bdour A, Altrabsheh N, Hadadin M, Al-Shareef M. Assessment of medical waste management practice. A case study of the northern part of Jordan. Journal on Waste Management 2007; 27: 746–59.
6. Alagoz AZ, Kocasoy G. Determination of the best appropriate management methods for the healthcare waste in Istanbul. J Waste Management. 2008; 28: 1227–35.
7. WHO, (2014).Safe Management of Wastes from Health- Care Activities. (2nd.ed). www.searo.who.int/srilanka/documents/safe_management_of_wastes_from_healthcare
8. WHO (1995). Suggested guiding principles and practices for the sound management of hazardous hospital waste. SEA-EH-531. WHO Regional office for South East Asia, New Delhi.
9. Hagen, D.L., Al-Humaidi, F. & Blake, M.A. (2001) Infectious waste surveys in a Saudi Arabian hospital: an important quality improvement tool. American Journal of Infection Control, 29, 198-202
10. WHO (1996). Action Plan for the development of Programme for sound management of hospital wastes. An outcome of the Regional Consultation on sound Management of Hospital Waste, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 28 – 29 November, 1996, New Delhi, WHO Regional Offices for South East Asia
11. Sah, R. C. (2007). Bio-Medical Waste Management Practice and POPs in Kathmandu, Nepal, Centre for Public Health and Environmental Development of Kathmandu, Nepal. http://www.noharam.org/details.cfm. Accessed on 12th July 2013
12. Bathala, L. R., Sangur, R., Mahajan, T., Chawla, P. S., Mehrotra, A., &Singhal, P. (2015). Biomedical Waste Disposalâ€- A Survey to assess the Knowledge, Attitude and Behaviour among Dental Personnel in Kanpur City, (U.P.), India. © 2015 IJSRST 1(2), Print ISSN: 2395-6011
13. Kumar, R., Shaikh, B.T., Somrongthong, R & Chapman, R.S (2015). Practices and Challenges of Infectious Waste Management: A Qualitative Descriptive study from Tertiary care Hospitals in Pakistan. Pakistan Journal Medical Science. 31 (4), 795- 798. doi: 10.12669/pjms.314.7988
14. TaruP. Kuvaraga Aj. (2005) Solid waste management: The case of Palirenjatwa hospital Zimbabwe, Revbiomedical journal ; p16:157-158.
