الفهرس 
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Abstract
Medical waste refers to all types of waste produced by healthcare activities, while biomedical waste can be generated in hospitals, research institutions, healthcare teaching institutes, clinics, laboratories, blood banks, animal houses and veterinary institutes. Hospital wastes include infectious wastes and non- infectious wastes; it could also be categorized into hazardous and non-hazardous waste. Waste management involves all the activities and actions required to manage waste from inception to final disposal. It should be strictly followed by all health team members including the nurses who should possess the required knowledge and skills to deal properly with waste.
The present study was aimed at assessing staff nurses’ knowledge and commitment toward hospital waste management. It was conducted at Sirs Elian hospital, El-Monoufyia governorate using descriptive design on all available 184 staff nurses in all units in the setting. A self-administered questionnaire sheets was used to collect data regarding nurses’ demographic characteristics, their knowledge of hospital waste management, and their related commitment. The tool was face and content validated by a panel of experts, and pilot-tested for reliability. The fieldwork lasted from March to April 2017.
The main study findings were as following:
The majority had previously attended training courses in infection control (87.5%), and 34.8% in waste management.
A great majority of the nurses (90.2%) had high total knowledge of workplace preventive measures.
Overall, 70.7% of the nurses had satisfactory total knowledge of hospital waste management.
In total, 95.7% of the nurses had adequate total commitment with hospital waste management.
Significantly more nurses with satisfactory knowledge were among those who had attended training in infection control.
The percentage of nurses with adequate total commitment was significantly higher among those having satisfactory total knowledge.
Statistically significant positive correlations were found between nurses’ knowledge and commitment scores.
Significant positive correlations were revealed between nurses’ commitment scores and their age and experience years, and between their knowledge scores and their experience years.
Nurse’s age and scores of knowledge were the positive predictors of the commitment score.
In conclusion, that the staff nurses in the study setting have high knowledge and commitment to waste management, while their related knowledge is variable. Their commitment is positively related to their age and their scores of knowledge.
The study recommends that the preventive measures at work need to be improved, and nurses’ knowledge of these measures should be ameliorated through orientation sessions and refresher training courses. Nurses’ knowledge of waste disposal needs to be fostered by continuing education. The lower commitment of younger age nurses should be addressed to identify the underlying factors and correct them. Further research is proposed to investigate the effect of training interventions and leadership on nurses’ commitment towards hospital waste management.