Conference abstract
Knowledge, attitude and practice of biomedical waste management among health care workers of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, Nigeria, 2012
Pan African Medical Journal - Conference Proceedings. 2018:8(79).09
Apr 2018.
doi: 10.11604/pamj-cp.2018.8.79.661
Archived on: 09 Apr 2018
Contact the corresponding author
Keywords: Biomedical waste, management, knowledge, practice
Opening ceremony
Knowledge, attitude and practice of biomedical waste management among health care workers of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, Nigeria, 2012
Isah Salisu Idris1,&, Ma’awuya Sufiyan2, Muhammad Balogun1
1Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme, Abuja, Nigeria, 2Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
&Corresponding author
Isah Salisu Idris, Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme, Asokoro, Abuja, Nigeria
Introduction: healthcare waste is more hazardous than other types of waste. Inadequate and inappropriate knowledge of handling of health care waste may have serious health consequences and significant impact on the environment. The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of biomedical waste management among health care workers (HCWs) in Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi.
Methods: we conducted a cross sectional descriptive study among 70 health care workers. They were randomly selected using stratified sampling technique. They comprised of doctors, nurses, cleaners, hospital attendants, laboratory staffs and waste handlers who worked for more than six months preceding the study. We collected data using a self-administered questionnaire to elicit respondents’ socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude and practices of biomedical waste. HCWs’ knowledge, attitude and practices were scored and, classified as either poor, fair or good. Chi-square was done with statistical significance at p-value less than 0.05.
Results: a majority (98.1%) of the respondents was aware of biomedical waste and 50% of them acquired the information through seminars. Sixty two percent of the respondents had never been trained on biomedical waste management. Most of the respondents (54.7%) had a fair understanding of biomedical wastes while 20.5% had a good understanding. The hospital used colour-coded bags as the major method of waste collection (52.2%), waste truck as its major method of waste transportation (58.2%) and incineration as its major method of final biomedical disposal (84.8%). Ninety-five percent of the respondents thought that disease can be transmitted through biomedical waste and 96% of them thought that biomedical waste can affect environment. A majority (50.8%) of the respondents did not own personal protective equipment (PPEs) and not all (19.7%) use them while handling biomedical waste.
Conclusion: there is paucity of knowledge on handling biomedical waste and the hospital has inadequate PPEs. We recommended training health care workers on effective biomedical waste management activities and provision of adequate PPEs to the health care workers.
