Attitudes and practices of healthcare workers regarding of medical waste management in hospitals of Al-Najaf Governorate

Abstract

Background: Iraq suffers from many pollutants in its environment. One of these pollutants is medical waste (MW) from hospitals, which is considered the second most dangerous waste after radioactive waste and needs to be properly managed by trained healthcare workers. Aims: This study aimed to assess the attitudes and practices of healthcare workers on medical waste management (MWM) and determine the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics of healthcare worker with their attitudes and practices. Instruments and methods: A descriptive; cross sectional study conducted at the government hospitals of Al-Najaf governorate, Iraq. The study include 443 participants (93 medical staff, 310 paramedical staff, and 40 housekeeping staff) collected through period from 2nd January until 31th March 2022 using a structured questionnaire depends on the National Guide to Infection Control in the Iraqi Health Institution and the previous studies. Findings: The study was conducted on 443 participants with the mean ± SD of their ages was 29.18 ±7.68 years. The age group 20-29 years had the highest percentage (69.1%), female were represented (58.9%) of the studied sample compared to (41.1%) male. The highest percentage of the studied sample had Baccalaureate certification (44%) and period of experience (1-5) years (62.98%).