ASSESSMENT OF KNOWLEDGE OF HEALTHCARE WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES OF PUBLIC HEALTH WORKERS IN GENERAL HOSPITALS OF KATSINA STATE

Abstract

This research sets out to determine how healthcare waste management practice affects public health workers' knowledge in Katsina State’s general hospitals. This research used a cross-sectional survey design. All public health personnel managing healthcare wastes employed at general hospitals in Katsina State were included in the population. The General hospitals were stratified into the three existing senatorial zones. Purposive sampling method was used to choose two general hospitals in each of the zones. 20% of the population of public healthcare workers in charge of waste management practice were chosen for this project in each of the hospitals. Researchers’ designed questionnaire was used for this study which was subjected to pilot test and analyzed using Cronbach’s Alpha with internal consistencies of 0.719 generated. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation. While independent sample t-test was used to compare the opinion of male and female public healthcare staff. The hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The result of the finding shows that the hypothesis was accepted showing that the view of both male and female public healthcare workers on knowledge variables considered for this study were accepted. The study concluded that, the knowledge of both the male and female public healthcare workers were not significant. Their opinions on knowledge does not differ from each other’s on healthcare waste management practice.