Determinants of Medical Waste Management Practices Among Primary Healthcare Workers in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Rivers State, Nigeria

Igosein  Obebinaru; Kpe-Nobana Christiana  Leesi

doi:10.51699/364sqf32

Authors

Igosein Obebinaru Department of Human Kinetics, Health and Safety Education Studies, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rivers State, Nigeria
Kpe-Nobana Christiana Leesi Department of Human Kinetics, Health and Safety Education Studies, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rivers State, Nigeria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51699/364sqf32

Keywords:

Determinants, Medical Waste, Primary Health, Workers, Management

Abstract

When medical waste generated from a health facility is not managed properly, it can be hazardous to the environment. This study focused on determinants of medical waste management among primary healthcare workers in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Rivers State. Six objectives, six research questions and five hypotheses were stated to guide the study. Literature was reviewed under conceptual framework, theoretical framework and empirical review. The study adopted descriptive correlational study design. The population of study are 2,605 primary healthcare workers in Port Harcourt Metropolis. The sample size was 382 healthcare workers selected using the multistage sampling procedure. The instrument for data collection was a self-structured questionnaire titled 'Medical waste Management Questionnaire (MWMQ)', with a reliability co-efficient of 0.72. Data collected were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27.0, and results were presented as means and Pearson Correlations at the 0.05 level of significance. The result showed that the extent to which medical waste management was practiced among primary healthcare workers in Port Harcourt Metropolis was high (3.49±0.81). The result further showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between practice of medical waste management and knowledge (r-value = 0.48; n = 367; p = 0.00), availability of waste management resources (r-value = 0.65; n = 367; p = 0.00), accessibility of waste management resources (r-value = 0.51; n = 367; p = 0.00), and years of work experience (r-value = 0.47; n = 367; p = 0.00). It was concluded that, the determinants of medical waste management were: knowledge of waste management, availability of waste management resources, accessibility of waste management resources, and years of work experience. It is recommended among others that, the primary health care management board should ensure that colour coded wastes bins are not lacking, by supplying them timely to the health facilities to ensure that the health care workers do not find it difficult to segregate the medical wastes generated.

References

[1] World Health Organization, Health-Care Waste Management Guideline for Healthcare Workers. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO, 2015.

[2] M. Samson, "South Africa's response to COVID-19 worsens the plight of waste reclaimers," The Conversation, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://theconversation.com/south-africas-response-to-covid-19-worsens-the-plight-of-waste-reclaimers-135072

[3] H. O. Stanley and A. C. Owhor, "Assessment of solid waste management practice in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Rivers State, Nigeria," J. Geogr. Environ. Earth Sci. Int., vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 1–10, 2018.

[4] M. Arab, R. A. Baghbani, M. Tajvar, A. Pourreza, G. Omrani, and M. Mahmoudi, "The assessment of hospital waste management: A case study in Tehran," Waste Manag. Res., vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 304–308, 2008.

[5] A. J. Rodriguez-Morales, Ed., Current Topics in Public Health. Rijeka, Croatia: InTech, 2013.

[6] J. Pépin, C. N. Abou Chakra, E. Pépin, V. Nault, and L. Valiquette, "Evolution of the global burden of viral infections from unsafe medical injections, 2000–2010," PLoS ONE, vol. 9, no. 6, Art. no. e99677, 2014.

[7] A. P. Chetan, C. Saurabh, B. S. Ramachandran, and M. Ramachandran, "Need of biomedical waste management in rural hospitals in India," 2015. [Online]. Available: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284388482_Need_of_Biomedical_Waste_Management_in_Rural_Hospitals_in_India

[8] S. Ather, "Hospital waste management," J. Coll. Physicians Surg. Pak., vol. 14, pp. 645–646, 2004.

[9] O. Awodele, A. A. Adewoye, and A. C. Oparah, "Assessment of medical waste management in seven hospitals in Lagos, Nigeria," BMC Public Health, vol. 16, Art. no. 269, 2016.

[10] S. T. Wafula, J. Musiime, and F. Oporia, "Health care waste management among health workers and associated factors in primary health care facilities in Kampala City, Uganda: A cross-sectional study," BMC Public Health, vol. 19, Art. no. 203, 2019.

[11] A. Bdour, B. Altrabsheh, N. Hadadin, and M. Al-Shareif, "Assessment of medical wastes management practice: A case study of the northern part of Jordan," Waste Manag., vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 746–759, 2007.

[12] World Health Organization, Safe Management of Wastes From Health-Care Activities: A Summary. Geneva, Switzerland: WHO, 2017.

[13] A. U. Kaoje, A. A. Sabir, S. Yusuf, A. O. Jimoh, and M. O. Raji, "Residents' perception of solid waste disposal practices in Sokoto, Northwest Nigeria," Afr. J. Environ. Sci. Technol., vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 94–102, 2017.

[14] E. P. Barloa, L. P. Lapie, and C. P. P. Cruz, "Knowledge, attitudes, and practices on solid waste management among undergraduate students in a Philippine state university," J. Environ. Earth Sci., vol. 6, no. 6, pp. 2–6, 2016.

[15] L. A. Manaf, M. A. A. Samah, and N. I. M. Zukki, "Municipal solid waste management in Malaysia: Practices and challenges," Waste Manag., vol. 29, no. 11, pp. 2902–2906, 2009.

[16] J. O. Babayemi and K. T. Dauda, "Evaluation of solid waste generation, categories and disposal options in developing countries: A case study of Nigeria," J. Appl. Sci. Environ. Manag., vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 83–88, 2010.

[17] S. Kwikiriza, A. G. Stewart, B. Mutahunga, A. E. Dobson, and E. Wilkinson, "A whole systems approach to hospital waste management in rural Uganda," Front. Public Health, vol. 7, Art. no. 136, 2019, doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00136.

[18] A. S. Oyekale and T. O. Oyekale, "Healthcare waste management practices and safety indicators in Nigeria," BMC Public Health, vol. 17, Art. no. 740, 2017.

[19] S. A. Omoleke, N. Usman, K. K. Kanmodi, and M. M. Ashiru, "Medical waste management at the primary healthcare centres in a north western Nigerian State: Findings from a low-resource setting," Public Health Pract., vol. 2, Art. no. 100092, 2021.

[20] P. Laor, Y. Suma, V. Keawdounglek, A. Hongtong, T. Apidechkul, and N. Pasukphun, "Knowledge, attitude and practice of municipal solid waste management among highland residents in Northern Thailand," J. Health Res., vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 123–131, 2018.

[21] P. Adogu, K. Uwakwe, N. Egenti, A. Okwuoha, and I. Nkwocha, "Assessment of waste management practices among residents of Owerri Municipal, Imo State, Nigeria," J. Environ. Prot., vol. 6, pp. 446–456, 2015.

[22] A. Shahzadi, M. Hussain, M. Afzal, and S. A. Gilani, "Determination the level of knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding household waste disposal among people in rural community of Lahore," Int. J. Soc. Sci. Manag., vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 219–224, 2018.

[23] K. Eshwari, S. S. Ranjithan, D. Akhila, S. S. Beulah, and K. P. Akhilesh, "Knowledge, attitude and practices towards household solid waste management among semi-urban residents: A community based cross sectional study from southern part of coastal Karnataka, India," Indian J. Public Health Res. Dev., vol. 10, no. 9, pp. 386–390, 2019.

[24] F. O. Adeyemo, G. Oluyemi, G. Oyadiran, and A. Juliana, "Knowledge, attitude and practice on waste management of people living in the university area of Ogbomoso, Nigeria," Int. J. Environ. Ecol. Family Urban Stud., vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 51–56, 2014.

[25] T. C. Ogwueleka, "Municipal solid waste characteristics and management in Nigeria," Iran. J. Environ. Health Sci. Eng., vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 173–180, 2009.

[26] C. Ezeah and C. L. Roberts, "Waste governance agenda in Nigerian cities: A comparative analysis," Habitat Int., vol. 41, pp. 121–128, 2014.