Knowledge and awareness of mercury disposal among health care providers

Abstract

Mercury is considered to be a powerful neurotoxin which leads to mercury poisoning. Mercury can harm us in many ways. Mercury vapour can harm the nervous system in newborn babies and can further lead to cough, tremor and irritability. Being a healthcare provider, it is necessary to know about mercury spill management. To assess the awareness and knowledge of mercury spill management among healthcare providers, an online based survey was created using google forms. The students were asked to answer 10 questions based on mercury spill management and its usefulness. 100 students actively participated in the survey. Correlation analysis was done by chi square test using SPSS software. The results were analysed by Spss software.  From the correlation,   only 18% of the students in first year, 6% of the students in second year, 2% of the students in third year, 4% of the students in fourth year and 5% of the students in final year were aware of the side effects of mercury with the p value of 0.879 which is statistically insignificant . Similarly, 26% of the first year students, 7% of the second year students, 4% of the third year students, 8% of the fourth year students and 7% of the final year students were aware that hypochlorite solution is used to wipe the mercury spill  with p value of 0.323 which is statistically insignificant.  On analysing the data it was found that healthcare providers had only little knowledge on mercury spill management. Many healthcare providers were aware of the side effects of mercury and some students were aware of its management. This survey in the current scenario is of utmost importance to reduce exposure of mercury among healthcare providers.