Patients Knowledge and Practices about Disposal of Used Insulin Needles in Diabetic patients of a Tertiary Care Hospital

Authors

  • Arsalan Nawaz, Amna Rizvi, Maria Shireen, Usman Hafeez, Rabia Arshad, Ammara Muzahir

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53350/pjmhs22163117

Keywords:

Diabetes Mellitus, Insulin.

Abstract

Background: Pakistan is now the 3rd country having highest diabetic population in the world. [1] Many of the diabetics are on insulin. The issue of the safe disposal of insulin syringes is an area of concern.

Aim: To assess the knowledge & disposal practices of insulin needles and its relationship with the different parameters related to diabetes education.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Services Hospital Lahore after approval of institutional review board. 363 diabetic patients, fulfilling the inclusion criteria, were approached. The patients were interviewed through a validated questionnaire. The data was stratified according to the age, gender, duration of diabetes, duration since last instructions reviewed. The chi-square test was applied. Data was analysed using SPSS 22.

Results: Almost all patients 98.6% were (n=359) adult, 4(1.2%) were adolescents i.e., below 18 years of age. Mean age of study population was 49.71±13.36 years, mean weight was 67.12±13.29 kg and mean height was 160.95± 6.89 cm. Among 363 cases, 209(57.6%) were females and 154(42.4%) were males. 242(67.5%) of study population was above age of 45 years while 118(32.5%) was below the age of 45 years. Mean duration of diabetes was 95.18±54.49 months and mean duration of insulin use was 6.45±3.7 years. Among all, 332(91.5%) use syringe for injecting insulin and 31(8.5%) use pen as device for insulin. About 95% of patients discard their insulin waste into home rubbish. Among that 95% of patients who are discarding their insulin waste into household rubbish, 91% discards it after recapping of needles but 4% of them put it into rubbish without recapping. More than three fourth (82.9%) of study participants were not confident about having correct knowledge of waste disposal while small proportion of participants (17.1%) were confident of having correct knowledge.

Conclusion: Unawareness about correct insulin disposal technique is much prevalent and is a major hazard for transmitting infectious diseases accidentally. Risk can be reduced by reinforcing the education.

Downloads

How to Cite

Arsalan Nawaz, Amna Rizvi, Maria Shireen, Usman Hafeez, Rabia Arshad, Ammara Muzahir. (2022). Patients Knowledge and Practices about Disposal of Used Insulin Needles in Diabetic patients of a Tertiary Care Hospital. Pakistan Journal of Medical & Health Sciences, 16(03), 117. https://doi.org/10.53350/pjmhs22163117