The Role of Professional Ethics Training and the necessity of Criminal Protections for Proper Management of Hospital Waste in Reducing the Fear of Contracting Infectious Diseases among Medical Staff in Fars Province
akhlāq-i pizishkī i.e., Medical Ethics,
Vol. 18 (1403),
29 July 2024
,
Page 1-12
https://doi.org/10.22037/mej.v18i.47311
Abstract
Background and Aim: Professional ethics training, alongside criminal protection, are influential factors in addressing environmental challenges, including the waste problem. Therefore, researchers aimed to conduct a study to examine the role of ethical and criminal protection in the proper management of hospital waste in reducing the fear of disease.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was descriptive-analytical, with the statistical population comprising all physicians and nurses in healthcare centers in Fars Province. Using convenience sampling, a total of 241 questionnaires were collected. The data collection tool in this study was a researcher-made questionnaire on ethical and criminal protection for the proper management of hospital waste (based on Clause E of Article 2 of the Executive Guidelines and Methods for Medical Waste Management and Criminal Justifications in accordance with Article 50 of the Constitution and Articles 25 and 66 of the Criminal Procedure Code) and the standard disease fear questionnaire (Salkosis and Warwick, 2002). The validity of the questionnaires was assessed in terms of content and construct and their reliability was calculated at 0.78 and 0.82, respectively. The collected data were analyzed using Pearson correlation and stepwise regression methods with SPSS 20 software.
Ethical Considerations: Ethical principles and confidentiality were observed at all stages of this study and the questionnaires were completed with informed consent and an explanation of the research objectives provided to the participants.
Results: The results indicated that ethical and criminal protection in the proper management of anatomical, sharp and cutting waste did not have a significant role in reducing the fear of disease. However, the standard coefficients of ethical and criminal protection in the proper management of infectious waste (T=-6.44 and ß=-0.43), radioactive waste (T=-7.11 and ß=-0.39) and hazardous pharmaceutical and chemical waste (T=-3.62 and ß=-0.23) were significant at the 0.001 level.
Conclusion: Ethical training and criminal protection have the greatest impact on the proper management of infectious waste and the least impact on hazardous pharmaceutical and chemical waste, while they do not influence the proper management of anatomical, sharp and cutting waste.
- Medical Waste
- Medical Waste Management
- Criminal Law
- Fear
- Healthcare Personnel
How to Cite
References
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