Knowledge of nursing students about hospital waste

Abstract

Hospital solid waste, or medical waste, has always been a serious problem for hospital administrators. With the wide range of activities that occur in the hospital environment, the discarded waste does not receive proper treatment and can pose a great danger both to human health and to the environment. The objective of this study was to describe and evaluate the knowledge of students of the 8th nursing period at the Sena Aires Faculty of Sciences and Education on management of medical waste. This is a descriptive, observational study with a quantitative approach that applied a questionnaire on medical waste to analyze the degree of knowledge of the students. It was possible to identify the knowledge of nursing students on the subject through the questionnaire. The number of correct answers was satisfactory, indicating that respondents theoretically know the correct forms of disposing waste, which unfortunately are not perceived in the daily waste disposal practices of hospitals. Therefore, the study concludes that proper waste management can significantly contribute to reduce the occurrence of accidents, especially those accidents caused by sharp objects.