Biomedical Waste Product Management in Pediatric Units and Its Relation to the Occurrence of Occupational Health Hazards

Abstract

Background: Biomedical waste management is a vital component of the environmental protection process Aim of the study: To determine biomedical waste product management in pediatric units and its relation to the occurrence of occupational health hazards. Research design: A descriptive exploratory research design was utilized in the current study. Subjects: A convenient sample of 116 health care providers (physician, nurses, and housekeepers) were involved in the current study. Setting: The current study was carried out at Minia university hospital for obstetrics and pediatrics. Data collection Tools: three tools were used in this study, Tool I: knowledge about bio-medical waste management; Tool II: attitudes toward biomedical waste management; and Tool III: occupational health hazards questionnaire. Results: nearly half (48.1%) of the studied health care providers had poor knowledge regarding biomedical waste management, and the majority (83.3%) of them had a positive attitude toward it. Also, there was a fair negative correlation between health care providers' knowledge about biomedical waste product management on exposure to physical health hazards. Conclusion: Pediatric health care providers' knowledge about biomedical waste management need to improve to decrease their occupational health hazards. Recommendation: provide pediatric health care providers continued training to reduce their risk of occupational health hazards, mainly inorganic, psycho-social, organic, and physical health hazards.

Caracterización de la gestión de residuos peligrosos en instituciones prestadoras de servicios de salud Region Caribe de Colombia

“…En nuestro país, existen ya algunos avances en materia de control, recolección de datos y caracterización del manejo que las instituciones del sector salud dan a los residuos hospitalarios [8,9]. Sin embargo, esta información no se encuentra completamente depurada y sistematizada lo que deriva en que la información puede carecer de confiabilidad y por tanto, se hace necesario realizar estudios paralelos para poder sugerir planes de acción de manera precisa y concreta con referencia a esta indicador [10] A nivel mundial, se ha venido manejando un estructurado sistema de control, identificación y tabulación, del manejo de residuos hospitalarios y es así como se encuentran entidades como Enviromental Protection Agency de los EE.…”