การศึกษาเรื่อง ความรู้ ทัศนคติ และพฤติกรรมการจัดการมูลฝอยติดเชื้อของบุคลากรในคลินิก จังหวัดภูเก็ต

Abstract

Infectious waste management (IWM) in clinics during handling to disposal of infectious waste is significant health hazards and can cause environmental pollution. Regarding the problem of infectious waste management, the personnel who handle the infectious waste is the significant concern that has a strong influence in waste management. Therefore, this study is aimed to assess Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) in handling infectious waste among personnel in clinics located in Phuket province. A simple random sampling was used to identify 344 respondents by face-to-face interview with healthcare workers from 172 clinics in Phuket province. The results showed that most of respondents were female (87%), aged 20-29 years old (37%), graduated in Bachelor's degree (56%), job position medical assistants/nurses (59%) with more than 5 years working experience (52%), had the experience in IWM (73%), and participated training in IWM (51%). Clinical waste management information, it was found that the majority of the clinics were medical clinic (44%), the main categories were found to be infectious needle (91%). Most of respondents (36%) had transported the infectious waste to the community's bin and mixed with municipal solid waste. The overall scores for knowledge, attitudes, and practices of respondents regarding IWM are in a high level (89.5%, 91.9%, and 92.2%, respectively). The statistical analysis showed that there was the difference between personnel practice in IWM and personal factors, except the experience in IWM and years of working experience (p<0.05). Personnel practice were positively correlated with knowledge and attitude in IWM. It is suggested that government agency should has a well-planned collection and transfer process of infectious wastes in order to reduce the risk of environmental pollution and public health.