Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Healthcare Workers on Biomedical Waste Management in Belize’s Four Health Regions: A Cross-Sectional Quantitative Study

Abstract
Title of thesis: Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Healthcare Workers on Biomedical Waste Management in Belize’s Four Health Regions: A Cross-Sectional Quantitative Study
Author: Seleni Alindy Clarita Cocom
Thesis advisor: Professor Che-Ming Yang
Background: Medical waste, encompassing both hazardous and non-hazardous materials, is a growing global concern due to the increase in demand of health services to accommodate the growing populations worldwide which raise potential public health concerns (Bijak et al., 2023). The continuous increase of biomedical waste generated from healthcare facilities highlights the critical importance of effective waste management practices. Proper handling and disposal of biomedical waste is essential to avoid potential health and environmental hazards. Failure to carry out management procedures concerning biomedical waste can have negative implications, not only for healthcare workers directly dealing with it, but also on patients, the community and the environment (Wakelam, 2021).
Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of healthcare workers on biomedical waste management in Belize’s four health regions.
Methods: This quantitative cross-sectional research was executed by distributing an electronic questionnaire using google forms through Facebook, email and WhatsApp to government healthcare workers in the Northern, Central, Western and Southern health regions of Belize. The sample population was a total of 55 HCWs who responded which included patient care assistants, auxiliary nurses, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory technologists and physicians. Once data collection was completed, it was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 23.
Results: The results of this study demonstrated that majority of the HCWs who responded were females (65.5%) and that mean age was 30.9 + 7.1 years. The HCWs pertained to 36.4% was from the Central, 34.5% from Western, 16.4% from Southern and 12.7% from Northern Health Region. Furthermore, this study found that 94.5% of HCWs were vaccinated against Hepatitis B virus (HBV).
This study also revealed that 65.5% of HCWs had satisfactory knowledge which could have been due to 76.5% of HCWs having at least a bachelor’s degree. Despite majority with satisfactory knowledge there was no significant association with practice (χ2 =1.038, p=0.31). In continuation, 69.1% had favourable attitudes in regards to BMWM practices. Most of the HCWs who responded to these 10 attitude items responded correctly with 69.1% being the lowest that believed disinfection could reduce the spread of BMW related infections. In regards to the association between attitude and practice, there was no significant association found (χ2 = 0.821, p = 0.37). Lastly, 61.8% of HCWs in this study had satisfactory practices. Although the score percentage of many items were high none were found as significant except for previous training (AOR=6.53, 95%CI [1.12-38.02], p=0.04). Those that had received training were 6.53 times more likely to have satisfactory practices than those who had not.
Conclusion: This study revealed that 65.5% of HCWs had satisfactory knowledge, 69.1% had favourable attitudes and 61.8% had satisfactory practices. Furthermore, the results concluded that the only healthcare worker characteristic that had a significant association with practice was training (AOR=6.53, 95%CI [1.12-38.02], p=0.04). Lastly, there was no significant association between knowledge and practice nor attitude and practice.
Keywords: BMWM, satisfactory knowledge, favourable attitude, satisfactory practice