Knowledge and practices of workers of a Hospital about handling of hospital waste, Chocó Colombia, 2012

Abstract

Introduction: hospital waste and similar are relevant health problem for the biological and chemicals risk, and negative impacts on the human quality of life and the environment. Objective: to describe the knowledge and practices of the workers of a Empresa Social del Estado from Chocó, Colombia about the handle of the hospital waste. Materials and methods: cross sectional study in 67 workers of six work areas of a hospital from Colombia. A scale about knowledge and practices about hospital waste was applied. The data is stored and analyzed in SPSS 20, with summary measures, frequencies, chi2 and Anova. Results: in knowledge 40% presented an unsatisfactory grade, in practice 17.9% was regular and only 3.0% excellent. The knowledge do not presented statistical association with sex, area of service, age and the time worked in the IPS, except in clinical laboratory staff, where 89% had a good knowledge. Practices showed no statistical association with sex, area of service, age and length of service. Conclusion: there was a high proportion of practices and knowledge unsatisfactory related with waste management, independent of gender, age, work area and service time, this implies that the problem is widespread in the institution and highlights the need to improve education programs and training. (MÉD.UIS. 2013;26(1)9:20).