Knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding handling mercury containing medical devices among nurses in a tertiary care paediatric hospital in Sri Lanka

BACKGROUND: Mercury is a highly toxic heavy metal used in many medical devices in the healthcare sector, making nurses one of the vulnerable occupational groups. OBJECTIVE: To assess knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding handling mercury containing devices and factors associated with knowledge among nurses in a paediatric hospital in Sri Lanka. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among nurses (n = 538) working in Lady Ridgeway Hospital, Sri Lanka. Information on the use of mercury containing medical devices, accidental exposure, management of spillage and disposal was gathered using a self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 472 nurses responded with a response rate of 87.7%. Of the 347 mercury thermometer users, 67.1% had experienced breakages while among 405 mercury sphygmomanometer users, 20.0% had experienced mercury spillages, during a three months period prior to the study. A majority (56.8%) had 'good' overall knowledge regarding mercury and its adverse effects while 94.1% had favorable attitudes towards protecting themselves/others from mercury. Practices related to managing a mercury spill were poor. Work experience >10 years (p = 0.032) and favorable attitude (p = 0.007) were associated with good knowledge while having a training on managing a mercury spillage was not (p = 0.850). CONCLUSIONS: Gaps in practices on managing a mercury spillage were evident. Current training programmes were not found to be effective.