Safety Considerations in the Management Of Hospital-Generated Wastes in University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar

Abstract

One hundred and twenty one hospital workers were studied to assess their compliance with standard methods of handling and disposing hospital generated wastes. One group comprised of 20 doctors, 22 nurses and 16 laboratory scientists who made up 58 waste generators.

Another group included 30 ward orderlies and 33 cleaners making up 63 workers who serve as waste managers. Questionnaires, random personal observation and brief intercept studies were used to assess compliance. The study revealed that 30.6% of the workers studied did not wear any form of protective clothing during work. Neither waste generators nor managers segregated wastes into infectious and non-infectious components while sterilization of waste material was not done before disposal. More enlightenment and greater supervision of hospital waste managers is hereby advocated. This will reduce nosocomial infections for health personnel and save the general public from environmental health hazard emanating from improperly managed infectious wastes.


Key Words: Hospital-generated wastes, Management, Safety considerations


[Mary Slessor Jnl of Medicine Vol.3(1) 2003: 69-71]