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Medical Waste-Sorting and Management Practices in Five Hospitals in Ghana
Hospital waste management in Ghana faces the risk of cross-contamination from the lack of thorough sorting of the waste at the points of generation, codisposal of hazardous and nonhazardous waste types, and use of open-fire pits and substandard incinerators for burning infectious waste. This has inc...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Hindawi
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7073495/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32190061 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/2934296 |
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author | Adu, Robert Ohene Gyasi, Samuel Fosu Essumang, David Kofi Otabil, Kenneth Bentum |
author_facet | Adu, Robert Ohene Gyasi, Samuel Fosu Essumang, David Kofi Otabil, Kenneth Bentum |
author_sort | Adu, Robert Ohene |
collection | PubMed |
description | Hospital waste management in Ghana faces the risk of cross-contamination from the lack of thorough sorting of the waste at the points of generation, codisposal of hazardous and nonhazardous waste types, and use of open-fire pits and substandard incinerators for burning infectious waste. This has increased the potential for the spread of infections and chemical pollutants. A cross-sectional study was conducted in five hospitals in Ghana to assess behavioral patterns on waste sorting and the effectiveness of hospital waste management in Ghana. A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed purposively to some staff of the five hospitals to assess workers' perceptions on medical waste sorting and handling. Additionally, focused group discussions and transect walks were adopted to examine the current collection, storage, treatment, and disposal methods used in the health facilities. Chi-square analyses showed significant differences in waste-sorting behavior based only on occupation (p < 0.0001, n=180) and not on gender, education, or experience in the health sector. Even though contaminated sharps were separated into brown safety boxes, color coding for other infectious waste containers was inconsistent across the health facilities. The study revealed that incineration is still the modal method of treatment in Ghanaian hospitals and therefore new approaches such as an engineering approach were required to minimize its environmental effects. It is recommended that periodic in-service training workshops be held for healthcare staff on the right source-segregation of medical waste, in order to facilitate the effective and safe handling, transport, treatment, and disposal of waste from health facilities. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7073495 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | Hindawi |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-70734952020-03-18 Medical Waste-Sorting and Management Practices in Five Hospitals in Ghana Adu, Robert Ohene Gyasi, Samuel Fosu Essumang, David Kofi Otabil, Kenneth Bentum J Environ Public Health Research Article Hospital waste management in Ghana faces the risk of cross-contamination from the lack of thorough sorting of the waste at the points of generation, codisposal of hazardous and nonhazardous waste types, and use of open-fire pits and substandard incinerators for burning infectious waste. This has increased the potential for the spread of infections and chemical pollutants. A cross-sectional study was conducted in five hospitals in Ghana to assess behavioral patterns on waste sorting and the effectiveness of hospital waste management in Ghana. A total of 250 questionnaires were distributed purposively to some staff of the five hospitals to assess workers' perceptions on medical waste sorting and handling. Additionally, focused group discussions and transect walks were adopted to examine the current collection, storage, treatment, and disposal methods used in the health facilities. Chi-square analyses showed significant differences in waste-sorting behavior based only on occupation (p < 0.0001, n=180) and not on gender, education, or experience in the health sector. Even though contaminated sharps were separated into brown safety boxes, color coding for other infectious waste containers was inconsistent across the health facilities. The study revealed that incineration is still the modal method of treatment in Ghanaian hospitals and therefore new approaches such as an engineering approach were required to minimize its environmental effects. It is recommended that periodic in-service training workshops be held for healthcare staff on the right source-segregation of medical waste, in order to facilitate the effective and safe handling, transport, treatment, and disposal of waste from health facilities. Hindawi 2020-03-04 /pmc/articles/PMC7073495/ /pubmed/32190061 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/2934296 Text en Copyright © 2020 Robert Ohene Adu et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Adu, Robert Ohene Gyasi, Samuel Fosu Essumang, David Kofi Otabil, Kenneth Bentum Medical Waste-Sorting and Management Practices in Five Hospitals in Ghana |
title | Medical Waste-Sorting and Management Practices in Five Hospitals in Ghana |
title_full | Medical Waste-Sorting and Management Practices in Five Hospitals in Ghana |
title_fullStr | Medical Waste-Sorting and Management Practices in Five Hospitals in Ghana |
title_full_unstemmed | Medical Waste-Sorting and Management Practices in Five Hospitals in Ghana |
title_short | Medical Waste-Sorting and Management Practices in Five Hospitals in Ghana |
title_sort | medical waste-sorting and management practices in five hospitals in ghana |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7073495/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32190061 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/2934296 |
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