The role of healthcare workers in medical waste management: A state hospital sample

Purpose: This study aims to reveal the knowledge levels of healthcare workers in medical waste management at Yavuz Selim Bone Diseases and Rehabilitation Hospital in Trabzon. Method: The study was conducted at Yavuz Selim Bone Diseases andRehabilitation Hospital in December 2016- January 2017 in Trabzon. The participants were the healthcare workers employed at the hospital (248 employees). During the study the number of the participants were 196 because some were off, some had health problems and some rejected to be a participant in the study. The data were collected using demographic features, and a questionnaire including the attitutes, awareness and manner of the participants about the medical waste. Findings: 74.0 per cent of the participants were female (145) and 26 per cent were male (51). The average age was 39.31±5.67 (min:22, max:56). 93.3 per cent of the Healthcare workers had sufficient information about the medical waste. 98.4 per cent of them stated that it is important to seperate the waste at its source. Result: The findings showed that the female employees had higher scores than the male employees about "obeying the waste management principals, and placing the domestic waste into the right colour bag". Also the female participants believed "the importance of inservice training about medical waste" more than the male participants. Key Words: Healthcare workers, medical waste, medical waste management.