Evaluating Waste Management in Selected Hospitals of Isfahan City in 2016

• Author Details:   
• Molood Shams
• Abbas Yazdanpanah
• Abbas Ghavam

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Objective: Hospital wastes have a special sensitivity due to containing dangerous, toxicant and pathogenic factors such as pathologic, infectious, medicinal, chemical and radioactive wastes. This study was conducted with the aim of examining the rate of observance of safety actions by personnel responsible of collecting hospital wastes in governmental hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences and examining reasons of observance or non-observance of safety during collecting wastes by personnel in the studied hospitals.
Materials and methods: The present study is descriptive- analytical and of cross-sectional type which was performed in 2016 on 3 selected hospitals of Esfahan city (governmental, private and social security). For collecting data, survey method was utilized and data collecting tool was questionnaire. In this study, based on frequency distribution, total score of individuals safety was divided to three groups of weak ( score less than 26), medium (score between 26 to 30) and good ( score more than 30). Data was analyzed using SPSS 22 software and statistical t- test and one-way variance analysis and regression.
Findings: findings showed that in respect of safety of hospital wastes, governmental and social security hospitals had good safety status (average above 30) and private hospitals had medium safety status. Also, between the studied hospitals, in respect of safety status score average, a statistically significant relation was obtained. Also, findings of this study showed the statistically significant relation between personnel education level, age, work background and training personnel with their safety status score average.
Conclusion: implementing current national standards and regulations and obviating shortages, correct planning, using young personnel alongside more experienced personnel, more training courses, respecting and greatening service personnel and attending them could help safety improvement in collecting hospital wastes.

Keywords: safety of hospital wastes, selected hospitals, Esfahan city