Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Hemşirelik Bilimi Dergisi Journal of Nursing Science, cilt.4, sa.2, ss.52-58, 2021 (Hakemli Dergi)
ABSTRACT
Aim: Failure to properly manage medical waste potentially exposes
healthcare professionals, waste handlers, patients, and the general public
to risks such as infection, toxic effects, injuries, and environmental
pollution. The study was planned in a descriptive cross-sectional type and
it was aimed to evaluate the medical waste knowledge levels of nursing
students.
Methods: The sample consisted of 100 nursing students studying in the
1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades of a state university. The Kuder Richardson
20 coefficient was found to be 0.744 by collecting data based on the selfreports of the participants with the questionnaire created by the
researchers in the study. The level of significance is taken α=0.05.
Categorical variables were analyzed with the Chi-Square test, Fisher's
exact Chi-square test, and Fisher Freeman Halton test.
Results: In our study, 70 (70.00%) people take a course on medical waste,
6 (6.00%) people work in any health institution. It was found that the rate
at which medical waste bags should be filled and the evaluation of expired
or unused drugs as pharmaceutical waste was statistically significant
according to gender (p = 0.028, and p = 0.047).
Conclusion: As nursing students take lectures or courses on medical
waste, and their grade levels rise, their knowledge of medical waste
increases. Based on the results of our study, increasing medical waste
education is of great importance in terms of public health, personnel
health, and environmental health.
Key words: Environmental Health, Medical Wastes, Nursing Students,
Public Health