KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE AND PRACTICE OF SAFE WASTE DISPOSAL AMONG NURSES IN SURGICAL UNITS OF UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA TEACHING HOSPITAL, ITUKU/OZALLA, ENUGU

The primary goal of any waste management system is to safeguard the health of the  citizens and protect the environment. This is achieved by ensuring proper collection,  transportation, treatment and, finally, safe disposal of waste. The study assessed the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Safe Waste Disposal among Nurses in the Surgical nits of University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku/Ozalla, Enugu. The objectives of the study included to understand what nurses know about over safe waste disposal,  determine the attitude of the nurses towards waste disposal and to establish the extent to which the Nurses in the Surgical Units of UNTH, Enugu practice safe waste disposal.            Literature related to the study was reviewed and the study anchored on the health belief model propounded by Janz and Becker in 1984. Descriptive survey research design was adopted with researcher designed questionnaire consisting of close-ended and response items in modified four point Likert scale format used as instrument for data collection.  The study population consisted of 174 nurses working at the Surgical Unit of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu. Data collected were  analysed descriptively and presented in tables. Findings revealed that nurses agreed that hospital hygiene training is important to ensure health workers, know how to handle wastes properly and realize the effect of poor waste disposal in the hospital. It was also  found that majority of the respondents agreed that safe disposal is of utmost importance to prevent contamination, should be priority at the hospital and that wearing personal protective equipment like gloves decreases the risk of hospital contamination. With regards to practice of waste disposal, majority of respondents agreed that they do not  dispose waste by open burning, that they use hospital waste bins provided very well, that  they wash their hands after handling waste before continuing to do their work, that they use personal protective equipment like gloves when handling wastes and that they   separate wastes before throwing them into the rubbish bin. Based on the findings, it was   recommended among other things that training, seminars and workshops should be organized regularly for nurses and other healthcare workers as this will help them  develop more positive attitudes and desirable practices towards hospital waste disposal  and consequently take necessarily precaution in order to avert the dangers associated with   improper solid waste disposal.