Waste Management in Selected Hospitals of Teheran University of Medical Sciences: Staff Awareness and Hospital Performance -2012

Hospital waste is one of the environmental problems. Ignoring the proper management of these wastes can lead to outbreak of diseases and epidemics which threat the public health and rise high costs as a result. This study is aimed to assess the level of staff awareness and hospital performance concerning waste management in selected hospitals of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2010. This is a descriptive-analytical study. The data were collected by distributing a multipartite Likert scale questionnaire among 351 individuals which had been used to measure hospital awareness and performance. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software. Among Descriptive tests Chi-Square test was used to determine the correlation of qualitative variables and Pearson correlation coefficient was used for quantitative variables. The significance level was considered at 0. 05. Significant differences had been seen among different professions` level of awareness. There were no significant difference among different hospitals ` average awareness level although there were significant statistical differences among each hospital`s performance level (p ≤ 0. 001). Due to relatively poor status of hospital`s waste management and hospital staff `s performance، better planning for proper management and wastes `excretion is needed to achieve sustainable development، public health protection and the environmental preservation. Staff Training and their performance monitoring and improving is one of the most important factors of hospital waste management plan success.