Assessment of knowledge, attitudes, and practices of medical waste management for healthcare providers in government hospitals in Basra, southern Iraq

Abstract

Infectious waste, which is substances contaminated with blood or secretions from the patient's body (10-15%) of the total waste produced by health facilities and that requires special treatment to make it safe to dispose of because of its risks to public health. This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of health care providers in Basrah Governorate Hospital towards medical waste. A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire distributed to health care providers in three selected hospitals by stratiZied method. The results showed the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices of healthcare providers towards medical waste 91.6%, 85.4% and 87.8%, respectively. There is statistical signiZicance between health care providers' knowledge, attitudes and practices towards medical waste, and their educational level and training courses. In addition to the recording of the statistical signiZicance that were between attitudes, practices and years of experience. The levels can be categorized as positive but it is important to focus on increasing and improving the training of health care providers as it is the basis of the medical waste treatment process.