Iyanda et al., J Biomed & App Sci FUD (2024) 3:2
Keywords: Biomedical waste, healthcare workers, infectious diseases, knowledge, practice, waste management
2025-05-16 DOI: JOBASFUD_2024_3_1_018
Background: Effective biomedical waste management is crucial for protecting the health of hospital staff, community members, and the general public from infectious diseases. This study aims to quantify the volume of waste and evaluate the knowledge and practices of healthcare workers at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, regarding biomedical waste management practices. Aim: To determine the daily waste generation, waste was segregated at the point of origin into hazardous and non-hazardous categories, weighed, and recorded over seven days. Methods: A total of 120 well-structured questionnaires were distributed to various categories of healthcare workers across twenty departments/units using simple random sampling to select the participants. Results: The findings show that an average of 122.10 kg of biomedical waste is generated daily across the 20 departments studied, with non-hazardous waste accounting for 58% and hazardous representing 42% of the total volume of the biomedical waste generated. Regarding Biomedical Waste (BMW) management knowledge, over 80% of the healthcare workers demonstrate good knowledge. Additionally, more than 69% of respondents exhibit good practices in various aspects of BMW management. Conclusion: the knowledge and practices of healthcare workers at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, can be considered good. It is, however, recommended that the management of the hospital engage in formal training of more of its staff on biomedical waste management, especially those outside of core medical professions.