Knowledge of the medical nurses and assistants on solid medical waste management in departments and units of 7A Military Hospital in 2019

Background: Medical waste regulation is an important issue due to its hazardous and infectious nature. The knowledge and skills of the healthcare staffs are important and studies in this matter is necessary for development of management and training strategy. Objectives: This study aimed to make a description and evaluation of the knowledge amongst nurses and assistants on solid medical waste management in the 7A Military Hospital from April to December 2019. Material and methods: This study employed a descriptive, cross-sectional approach. The quantify survey was done by interview with a questionnaire on 205 nurses and assistants. The qualify survey was done by depth interview with 13 selected personnel. Data was processed by Epidata and SPSS software. Results: Qualified knowledge of waste classification, collection, transportation and storage was 74.6%, 66.3%, 84.9%, and 77.6%, respectively. Poor knowledge was observed in number and name waste categories, collection and transportation patterns, and storage time at the central store house. Discussion: The general knowledge of the surveyed staff is high, but both the interviews revealed significant shortcomings and misconducts in several aspects. The study was restricted in solid waste management of nurses and assistants in three blocks and two centers of the Hospital due to limitation of fund and time. Conclusion: Improvement in training and education, and encouragement of mutual cooperation between staffs and units is necessary to maximize the management effectiveness. Further studies are beneficial for a more comprehensive outlook of the problem.