Medical waste management training for healthcare managers - a necessity?
BACKGROUND
This is an interventional study, since a training has been given, performed in order to investigate whether training has significant impact on knowledge levels of healthcare managers (head-nurses, assistant head nurses, hospital managers and deputy managers) regarding bio-medical waste management.


METHODS
The study was conducted on 240 volunteers during June - August 2010 in 12 hospitals serving in Istanbul (private, public, university, training-research hospitals and other healthcare institutions). A survey form prepared by the project guidance team was applied to the participants through the internet before and after the training courses. The training program was composed of 40 hours of theory and 16 hours of practice sessions taught by persons known to have expertise in their fields. Methods used in the analysis of the data chi-square and t-tests in dependent groups.


RESULTS
67.5% (162) of participants were female. 42.5% (102) are working in private, and 21.7% in state-owned hospitals. 50.4% are head-nurses, and 18.3% are hospital managers.A statistically significant difference was found among those who had received medical waste management training (preliminary test and final test) and others who had not (p<0.01). It was observed that information levels of all healthcare managers who had received training on waste management had risen at the completion of that training session.


CONCLUSIONS
On the subject of waste management, to have trained healthcare employees who are responsible for the safe disposal of wastes in hospitals is both a necessity for the safety of patients and important for its contribution to the economy of the country.
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Family Medicine, Bezmialem Vakif University, Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey.
Aclan
A
Ozder
Department of Infectious Diseases, Nisa Hospital, Yenibosna, Istanbul, Turkey.
Bahri
B
Teker
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health, Bezmialem Vakif University, Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey.
Hasan Huseyin
HH
Eker
Faculty of Business, Department of Health Administration, University of Sakarya, Adapazari, Turkey.
Selma
S
Altındis
Vocational High School, University of Yalova, Yalova, Turkey.
Merve
M
Kocaakman
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Infectious Diseases, University of Sakarya, Adapazari, Turkey.
Oguz
O
Karabay