Risk perceptions of hospital infectious waste from health-care workers and government inspectors

• Main Authors: Chao-Wei Wu, 吳兆偉
• Other Authors: 謝賢書
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/98972061168129236315

碩士 === 長榮大學 === 職業安全與衛生研究所 === 94 === The two regulations related to the management of hospital infectious wastes are “Standards for Defining Hazardous Industrial Waste” and “Methods and Facilities Standards for the Storage, Clearance and Disposal of Industrial Waste”. However, the definitions of infectious waste described in the above two regulations are not consistent. The segregation behaviors of health-care workers wastes are more or less dependent on the personal risk perception of infectious waste. Environmental inspectors of regulated agencies may adapt different criteria of auditing on the management of infectious waste based on the selective interpretation between two related regulations as well as the personal risk perception of infectious wastes. The purposes of this study were to investigate the risk perception and the segregation behavior among different groups, namely, nurse students, nurses, on-site waste management staffs, and environmental inspectors in the regulated agencies. The questionnaires were designed and distributed to these four groups. The results indicated that: (1) most of nurse students (63.5%) and nurses (65%) have never heard of or not familiar with the regulations related to infectious waste management; (2) Some disputes about defining infectious wastes exist between nurses and waste management staffs in the hospital; (3) most of the environmental inspectors in the regulated agencies take a stricter stand which is reflected in the interpretation of “Methods and Facilities Standards for the Storage, Clearance and Disposal of Industrial Waste ”; (4) when categorizing which is infectious waste, masks, diapers and disposed ampoules are the items that induce the largest discrepancy between environmental inspectors of the local government agencies and auditors of the central government agency. Keyword：health-care workers、infectious waste、risk perception