Staff Nurses’ Knowledge and Commitment toward Hospital Waste Management

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 B.Sc. Nursing, Professor of Nursing Administration-, Faculty of Nursing Ain Shams University.

2 Head of Nursing Administration Department,Faculty of Nursing, Ain Shams University.

3 Assistant Professor of Nursing Administration, Faculty of Nursing, Ain Shams University.

Abstract

Background: Healthcare waste management should be strictly followed by all health
team members, and nurses should have required knowledge and skills to deal properly with
waste. Aim of the study: To assess staff nurses’ knowledge and commitment toward
hospital waste management. Design: A descriptive study design was utilized to meet the aim
of this study Setting: This study was conducted at Sirs Elian hospital, El-Monoufyia
governorate, the study sample consisted of 184 staff nurses in all units. Tools of data
collection: two self-administered questionnaire sheets was used to collect data: I) Hospital
waste management knowledge questionnaire sheet. II) Commitment toward hospital waste
management questionnaire sheet. Results A great majority of the nurses had high total
knowledge of workplace preventive measures. The majority had high knowledge and had
adequate commitment, while had satisfactory knowledge of hospital waste management. The
scores of knowledge and commitment are correlated. The knowledge score is positively
influenced by the attendance of training in management, whereas the commitment score is
positively influenced by nurse’s age and by scores of knowledge. Conclusion: staff nurses in
the study setting have high knowledge and commitment to waste management, while their
related knowledge is variable. Their commitment is positively related to their age and their
scores of knowledge recommendations: The study recommends more training courses in
waste management. Further research is proposed to investigate the effect of training
interventions and leadership on nurses’ commitment towards hospital waste management.

Keywords