Knowledge and Practices of Nursing Staff Regarding Biomedical Waste Management at Rural Health Units in Tanta City

Khalil, Aya Mohamed Abdelghany; Essa, Hanan Abo-Elgamelen Ebrahim; Hassan, Lulah Abdelwahab Abdelaty; El-Gamal, Sara Mohamed Ahmed

doi:10.21608/tsnj.2024.349142

Knowledge and Practices of Nursing Staff Regarding Biomedical Waste Management at Rural Health Units in Tanta City

Authors

¹ 1Master student of Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Tanta University, Egypt 2Nursing specialist at Tanta Health Insurance Hospital, Egypt.

² Professor of Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Tanta University, Egypt

³ Lecturer of Community Health Nursing ,Faculty of Nursing, Tanta University, Egypt

10.21608/tsnj.2024.349142

Abstract

Abstract:
Background: Biomedical waste is unwanted materials that contains potentially infectious
elements and produced during medical procedures such as diagnosis, therapy, surgery,
vaccination, or research. Healthcare waste poses serious dangers to public health and the
environment, making its management crucial. This study aimed to assess knowledge and
practices of nursing staff regarding biomedical waste management at rural health units in Tanta
city. Research design: Descriptive study design was utilized to achieve the aim of this study.
Setting: This study was conducted at 14 rural health units affiliated to Tanta district. Sample: All
the available nursing staff working (325) at the previous mentioned settings was included in this
study. Tool of the study: A structured questionnaire sheet was used including three parts: (1)
Socio-demographic characteristics of the studied nursing staff, (2) Nurses’ knowledge regarding
biomedical waste and its management (3) Self-reported practices of nursing staff regarding
biomedical waste management. Results: 43.4% nurses who were studied knew very little about
biomedical waste management and 60.6% had unsatisfactory reported practice. Conclusion:
Highly a statistically significant positive association between the study nurses' overall knowledge
score and their overall reported practice score regarding biomedical waste management (p <
0.001). Recommendation: It is essential to identify nurses training needs regarding safe waste
management policies and guidelines through ongoing evaluation of nurses' expertise and
methods in waste control in health care units.