Assessment Of Healthcare Waste Management Practices Among Health Workers

Assessment Of Healthcare Waste Management Practices Among Health Workers

Chapter One

Preface

Background to the Study

Healthcare waste threatens the public health due to its contagious nature. utmost healthcare installations are located in the heart of the metropolises and thus, healthcare waste that aren’t rightly managed can beget dangerous infection and pose implicit trouble to the near terrain, health workers, cases and to the public( WHO, 2014). Dehghani, Azam, Changani and Fard( 2008) noted that Healthcare Waste( HCW) if not meetly managed can be a serious trouble to mortal health due to their contagious attributes. Nigeria, one of developing countries, has health issues that are contending for limited coffers; it isn’t amazing that healthcare waste operation receives lower attention and priority than it graces( Stephen, & Elijah, 2011). thus, there’s a serious challenge in developing countries, where there are no Institutional vittles for healthcare waste operation. Clinical wastes are inclined openly in the dumpsite along with external waste and the practice make the members of the community gain access to it which may lead to outbreak of contagious conditions( Alagoz, Kocasay, Abah, & Ohimain, 2010). Cheng, Sung, Yang, Lo, Chung and Li( 2009) noted that as small as healthcare waste is in proportion to the total community waste, its operation is considered an important issue worldwide. World Health Organization( 2014) reported that 15 of total waste generated in the healthcare installation is dangerous and must be duly insulated at the point of generation to help the whole healthcare waste getting 100 dangerous. The World Health Organization estimates that each time there are about 8 to 16 million new cases of Hepatitis B contagion( HBV),2.3 to4.7 million cases of Hepatitis C contagion( HCV) and 80,000 to 160,000 cases of mortal vulnerable insufficiency contagion( HIV) due to unsafe injections disposal and substantially due to veritably poor waste operation systems.

Across the globe, the threat associated with Healthcare Waste( HCW) and its operation has gained tremendous attention from health interpreters and nonpractitioners.However, it’ll help them in planning, budgeting acceptable profit for the operation of dangerous waste( Bongayi, If healthcare installations know the types and amounts of clinical waste generated. A study conducted by Olubukola( 2009) in two General hospitals at Lagos reported that due to lack of quantification of healthcare waste, there was no waste reduction plan in the hospitals.

This lack of plan for healthcare waste operation ultimately leads to shy waste isolation at point of use, collection, storehouse and final disposal. This poor healthcare waste operation practice creates health hazards for health workers, cases and the terrain. linked gaps like lack of colour law bags for isolation of healthcare waste at point of use, lack of guidelines on isolation and disposal for health workers lead to poor healthcare waste operation in hospitals. The mismanagement of healthcare waste by healthcare installations doesn’t pose health hazard to health workers and cases alone but also to cases ’ callers and the community where they’re inaptly disposed by polluting the soil, air and water. Healthcare installations are supposed to cover the health of people in their terrain, not to be a creator of implicit health hazard for them.

likewise, increase in case turned- out has increase the generation of healthcare waste. Mboguwe, Mimereki and Magashula( 2008) also reported that increase in population results to increase in healthcare installations that lead to increased healthcare waste generation. It’s anticipated that because of this increase, further attention should be paid to and precedence given to proper healthcare waste operation in Abeokuta South Original Government( ASLG). operation of healthcare waste continues to present an array of challenges especially as profitable situation of the country consolidate diurnal thus, healthcare waste operation has come a concern.

So numerous studies have been conducted on healthcare waste operation but little or no work has been done concerning isolation of clinical waste which is a vital aspect in healthcare waste operation( Coker, Sangodoyin, Sridhar, Booth, Olomolaiye, 2009). isolation of waste is pivotal in healthcare waste operation because it’s the first step in clinical waste operation. isolation of healthcare waste helps in reduction of the volume of waste that’s dangerous. Once healthcare waste are insulated, collection will be easy, proper storehouse will be done and disposal of contagious waste carried out in the way that it’ll not pose any detriment to health workers, cases and the terrain( WHO, 2014). Proper operation of healthcare waste depends on good association, sufficient backing and active participation of trained labor force. It was observed that healthcare installations weren’t spending coffers on clinical waste operation Healthcare installation must allocate coffers for colour enciphered bags and training of creator of healthcare waste for proper isolation and disposal for its sustainability. The intention of this study is to assess healthcare waste operation practices at health installations in Abeokuta South Original Government.

Statement of the Problem

Indiscriminate jilting of undressed sanitarium waste in External lockers increases the chances of survival and mutation of pathogenic microorganism population in the external waste, which can lead to complaint pandemics and increased prevalence of transmissible complaint in the community. The frequence of contagious complaint like Hepatitis B, C, Measles, Acquired immunodeficiency pattern, Tuberculosis, Chickenpox, Cholera and others has also been traced to the unhappy isolation and disposal of sanitarium waste( Sreejith, 2008). In Ogun State, the experimenter observed that the healthcare installations neglected healthcare waste operation in the area of isolation and disposal. Accoutrements needed for isolation and disposal of these sanitarium wastes aren’t handed by the constituted authority, therefore these pose a serious trouble to the health workers, cases, surroundings and the community at large. There has been recent cases of sanitarium acquired contagious conditions among health workers which has been traced to impurity from healthcare waste, leading to early death of some of these health workers.

The indiscriminate jilting of sanitarium waste among domestic waste make the community members fluently pierce it. A stint of these health installations shows the absence of waste operation installations similar as incinerators, autoclave, and microwave oven. thus, it’s most likely that medical wastes are ditched at external point; this practice may lead to outbreak of transmissible conditions. It’s in the light of these problems linked above that the experimenter developed interest in assessing healthcare waste operation practices among health workers in Abeokuta South Original Government of Ogun State. The result of this study will be used to ameliorate the healthcare waste operation in health installations in Abeokuta South Original Government. It’ll also give empirical data to policy makers, experimenters and other concern bodies to develop effective healthcare waste operation policy in Abeokuta South Original Government and the country as a whole.

Ideal of the Study

The main ideal of this study is to assess the waste operation practices of health workers in four healthcare installations in Abeokuta South Original Government Area of Ogun State. The specific objects are to

identify different types of waste generated in Healthcare installations in Abeokuta South Original Government( ASLG);

determine the position of knowledge of health workers on Healthcare waste operation and its isolation;

assess the healthcare waste operation as rehearsed by health workers and

determine how healthcare wastes are eventually disposed off, by the healthcare installations in

ASLG.

Exploration Questions

What are the types of Healthcare wastes generated at health installations in ASLG?

What’s the position of knowledge of health workers on healthcare waste operation?

What’s the practice of healthcare waste operation by health workers?

What’s the final disposal of healthcare waste rehearsed by healthcare workers in ASLG?

thesis

Ho1 There’s no significant relationship between knowledge and practice of repliers on

Healthcare waste operation in ASLG.

Compass of the Study

The study concentrated on generation, isolation and final disposal of healthcare waste in healthcare installations in Abeokuta South Original Government. One tertiary Healthcare installation, one secondary Healthcare installation and two primary Healthcare installations were used.