Mercury hygiene and biomedical waste management practices among dental health-care personnel in public hospitals in Lagos State, Nigeria
| Autor: | John O. Makanjuola, G T Arotiba, Lillian Lami Enone, O M Ogundana, DC Umesi, Uyi Idah Ekowmenhenhen |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male Health Knowledge Attitudes Practice Attitude of Health Personnel media_common.quotation_subject Nigeria chemistry.chemical_element Developing country Legislation engineering.material Young Adult Waste Management mercury hygiene Hygiene Surveys and Questionnaires Environmental health Health care Dental Staff Humans Medicine dental personnel Medical Waste Disposal Dental Health Services Practice Patterns Dentists' media_common Hospitals Public business.industry Dental Waste Biomedical waste management Biomedical waste Mercury Articles General Medicine Middle Aged Mercury (element) Dental personnel Amalgam (dentistry) Cross-Sectional Studies chemistry engineering Female business |
| Zdroj: | African Health Sciences |
| ISSN: | 1680-6905 |
| Popis: | Background: Indiscriminate disposal of hospital wastes including mercury/amalgam wastes pose a serious threat to life and environment. There is a growing concern about biomedical waste (BMW) management among health care workers, however there are limited reports on BMW management by dental personnel in developing countries. Objectives: This study investigated the level of knowledge of BMW, observance of proper mercury hygiene and BMW management practice among public dental personnel in Lagos State, Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional study regarding BMW management across public hospitals in Lagos State, Nigeria was con- ducted following institutional ethics committee approval. A self-administered questionnaire was utilized to obtain data from different facilities selected by purposive and simple random sampling techniques as applicable. The questionnaires were dis- tributed among 437 respondents by convenience sampling. The resulting data were statistically tested using Chi-square and G-test with p-value < 0.05 indicating significant level. Results: Amongst 437 respondents, majority were females (62.5%) and the highest proportion fell within the age range of 25–34 years (44.4%). Only 17.2% of the respondents had good knowledge of BMW management/legislation and 4.1% had good BMW practice. Less than half (49.4%) of respondents disposed mercury-contaminated materials inside the trash and majority (92.2%) did not observe proper mercury hygiene. Significantly better mercury hygiene practices were observed in secondary facilities (p=0.040). Conclusion: A minor proportion of public dental personnel had good knowledge and practice of proper mercury hygiene and BMW management. This shows there is an urgent need for training of health personnel on proper BMW handling and disposal in developing countries like Nigeria. Keywords: Biomedical waste management; mercury hygiene; dental personnel; Nigeria. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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