Assessing knowledge, attitude, and practice of healthcare personnel regarding biomedical waste management: a systematic review of available tools

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (7) ◽  
pp. 717-725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Mannocci ◽  
Ornella di Bella ◽  
Domenico Barbato ◽  
Fulvio Castellani ◽  
Giuseppe La Torre ◽  
...  

Biomedical waste (BMW) management is an important commitment of hospitals both in terms of the possible infectious risk and from the financial point of view. Monitoring the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of healthcare professionals on this topic represents a source of information on BMW management. The aim of this study is to perform a systematic review to identify the reliable and valid tools able to assess the KAP of professionals in healthcare centers to manage BMW. Two databases (PubMed and Scopus) were searched on 10 May 2018 for cross-sectional studies with tools on BWM management, including original research studies from peer-reviewed journals, case studies, and review studies. Information on validation and reliability were collected. Methodological quality was assessed using the Newcastle–Ottawa scale for cross-sectional studies. Fifty-three articles were included, of which 19 presented a questionnaire on BMW for healthcare workers. Nine proposed a validated questionnaire: four reported Cronbach’s alpha, which ranged from 0.62 to 0.86. Results further emphasize the prevalence of Asian studies facing the problem of assessing KAP about BMW management using specific tools. Overall, 14 questionnaires were designed in Asia, two in Africa, one in America, one in Australia, and one questionnaire was elaborated in Europe, in Spain. This systematic review highlighted the need of creation of validated and methodologically high-quality questionnaires. Therefore, there is the need of new cross-sectional studies to investigate these problems, improving generalization, and facilitating international comparison of research findings.

Author(s):  
Ravindra S. Beedimani ◽  
Sameer Uz Zaman ◽  
Subrahmanyam Darb ◽  
Sharat Chandra Potturi

Background: Drugs are one of the most commonly used interventions in medical therapeutics. Spontaneous reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) is the backbone of pharmacovigilance (PV) program. Under-reporting of ADRs by prescribers was possibly due to lack of knowledge, attitude and practices regarding PV. This study was done to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of medical students (grouped to sixth and eighth semester) and medical doctors about PV in a tertiary care hospital.Methods: It was a questionnaire based cross-sectional study administered to 246 medical students and doctors. Study tool was a validated questionnaire containing 15 questions to evaluate KAP of PV among medical students and doctors. A descriptive analysis of data was done where necessary, statistical significance for associations between the group and their responses to questionnaire was provided using Pearson Chi square test and Fisher exact test.Results: Sixty-eight percent of the participants (90% doctors; 76% eighth-semester and 46% sixth-semester medical students) know the correct definition of PV. Sixty-one percent of the participants (67% sixth-semester, 61% doctors and 53% eighth-semester) think that reporting is a professional obligation for them. Only 15% of the participants have ever been taught or trained on how to report an ADR.Conclusions: Medical doctors and students lack adequate knowledge and practice of reporting ADRs, but they seem to have a positive attitude towards the PV program. Our study findings strongly suggest that there is a great need to create awareness amongst them to promote reporting of ADRs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Yar Mohammed Dawood Al Balushi ◽  
Muhammad Muqeet Ullah ◽  
Amal Ali Al Makhamri ◽  
Fatma Sulieman Al Alawi ◽  
Mansoor Khalid ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND: Due to existence of highly infectious materials, the biomedical waste can be a probable source for transmission of diseases as well as occupational hazards among health care workers if not adequately managed. Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of biomedical waste management among health care personnel in a secondary hospital of Al Buraimi Governorate, Sultanate Oman.METHODOLOGY: A Cross sectional descriptive self-administered questionnaire based study was conducted among 207 subjects from 30th September 2015 to 30th March 2016 in Al-Buraimi hospital, Oman. Stratified random sampling comprised of four strata (100 nurses, 65 doctors, 22 housekeeping staff and 20 laboratory technicians).Chi-Square test was applied using SPSS version 21 with significance level ≤ 0.05. Confidentiality was maintained with ethical approval from research committee and informed formal consent was taken from the participants. RESULT: Overall response rate was 125 (60.3%) from total 207, mean age 36.14±8.9 and age ranges from 20 to 58 years with mean age (doctors 42.5, nurses 29.8, laboratory technician 29.2 and housekeeping staff 36). Female proportion of 82 (65.6%) was higher as compare to males 43 (34.4%). The study was analyzed on the basis of “satisfactory” and “unsatisfactory” scores using “cut-off point” tools. Nurses had better satisfactory knowledge (90.9%), attitude (94.5%) and practice (80%) scores as compare to other participants. The overall “satisfactory” knowledge, attitude and practice scores were found to be statistically insignificant (P=0.100, P=0.346, P=0.364 respectively). No significant relationship established between dichotomized variables of knowledge and practice (P = 0.264) as well as attitude and practice (P = 0.147).CONCLUSION: The “satisfactory” scores of knowledge, attitude and practice were found to be higher among nurses as compared to other participants, which may be due to intensive patient care and more involvement in biomedical waste management as well as greater responsibility allocated by hospital administration.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (Special1) ◽  
pp. 337-342
Author(s):  
Jacob Davies Kalliath ◽  
Anuradha Kizhatil ◽  
Brilly M Rose ◽  
Ann Mary Kuncheria ◽  
Alexander John

Background: COVID – 19 infection is a serious pandemic the world is now facing. This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding COVID-19 infection among medical students at a private medical college in central Kerala.  Methods: A cross-sectional web-based study was conducted during April-May 2020 in a private medical college in Ernakulam District using the Universal sampling technique. The study tool was a semi-structured validated questionnaire containing sociodemographic details and questions on knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) regarding COVID-19 infection. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 software. Results: A total of 288 students were included in the study, with a mean age of 21±1.4. The male-to-female ratio was 2.75:1. Medical students showed adequate knowledge (81.6%), attitude (91.3%), and practice (84.7%) towards the COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. The main symptoms of COVID-19 infection were known to at least 83% of the participants. The majority (85.4%) were aware that there is no specific treatment for COVID-19 infection and 90% were aware of the main modes of the disease transmission. The majority (99%) of the medical students believed that COVID-19 infection could be prevented through social distancing, wearing masks, and the practice of self-hygiene. About 75.6% believed that government measures for prevention are adequate. Steam inhalation, saline gargling, and consumption of vitamin C-rich foodstuffs were the main specific measures adopted. Older age and female gender were found to be associated with better knowledge. Conclusion: Adequate KAP levels among medical students in this study are attributable to the current lockdown and the strict government measures to contain the infection.


Author(s):  
Shibal Bhartiya ◽  
Nishant Kumar ◽  
Meenakshi Wadhwani

Background: After almost a year of the COVID-19 pandemic, economies around the world are opening up. However, with newer, more virulent strains being reported across the globe, the efficacy of vaccines has also come into question, and regulatory authorities are emphasising once again, the importance of mask use and social distancing. The aim of the study was to understand the knowledge, attitude and practice towards wearing of masks during this pandemic.Methods: This was a non-interventional, questionnaire based, cross sectional study conducted in urban slums in Mumbai, India. A validated questionnaire was administered to those who volunteered to be part of the study, during sero-survey in the slum area.  Results: A total of 1342 participants were included in the study. An overwhelming 1232 (91.8%) knew that masks should cover both nose and mouth. Almost 72% claimed to wear their face masks more than 50% of the time when outside their homes, while 27.5% used them only when in crowded places. Interestingly only 3% said they did not wear masks at all. 86% subjects were of the opinion that cloth masks should be washed daily, and 5% said it should be washed once every two days. There was a significant association with the knowledge regarding proper usage and cleaning of mask, and age, gender and occupation.Conclusions: The knowledge and attitude towards wearing and care of masks reveals that there was a significant association between proper usage and cleaning of masks and age, occupation, literacy and income.


Author(s):  
Nuha Mohammed Malibari ◽  
Michael Connolly ◽  
Abdulaziz S. Aljohani

Background: The provision of palliative care (PC) for individuals with a life-threatening condition is fundamental to the role of the physician, in order to improve quality of life; however, little research has assessed the competence of the physicians in PC in Saudi Arabia. Aim: To conduct a baseline assessment of self-assessed palliative care competences among medical physicians in Saudi Arabia. Design: A survey-based cross-sectional study was employed using a specifically designed questionnaire. Setting: The participants in the study were selected from 6 specialist medical departments (Family medicine, cardiology, internal medicine, pulmonary medicine, neurology and oncology) in 4 Saudi Arabian Hospitals, based on inclusion criteria. Results: The study was conducted using a validated questionnaire used in Ireland to evaluate the competence skills of physicians for the provision of palliative care. All categories showed internal reliability and normal distribution of the data. However, the score of the knowledge, attitude and practice among the physicians was higher than the expected. The clinical specialty of the physicians demonstrated greater influence on knowledge, attitude and practice related to the palliative care compared to medical education. This highlighted the importance of training in palliative care to the medical doctors working in a range of specialist area. Conclusion: The study provides baseline data on the level of competence of palliative care of physicians in Saudi Arabia. This study can be used as an assessment tool to further evaluate the effectiveness of palliative care in other areas as primary and secondary care settings


Author(s):  
Prashant P. Shivgunde ◽  
Smruti M. Besekar ◽  
Khushboo M. Bhojwani ◽  
Divya G. Bhojwani

Background: Haemovigilance Programme of India was launched in 2012 with the purpose to identify, analyse and learn the complications related to transfusion and blood donation, in order to avoid such complications in future. Though it is essential to identify the Adverse Transfusion Reactions (ATR) to reduce the incidence and make transfusion easier; there are rare reports available about knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of Healthcare Professionals (HCP) for haemovigilance.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, pre-validated questionnaire designed for assessing the KAP, the possible ways to improve transfusion reaction reporting and causes of underreporting were distributed among 220 Healthcare Professional (HCP) in Nashik, Maharashtra.Results: The response rate of the study was 93%. Amongst them 58% HCP had poor knowledge while only 9% had good knowledge about haemovigilance. According to respondents, training to the HCP, CME’s, making reporting compulsory and launching of a toll-free helpline number will mark a milestone in improving transfusion reaction reporting. Legal liability issue and lack of time & knowledge were the main factors which discouraged them from reporting.Conclusions: Overall, most of HCP in Nashik have a positive attitude towards transfusion reaction reporting but knowledge regarding the haemovigilance concept is poor and the majority of them never reported ATR. Hence, our study demands increased awareness and continued training to strengthen the haemovigilance system, especially ATR reporting.


2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (204) ◽  
pp. 86-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shakti Shrestha ◽  
Bhojraj Adhikari ◽  
Ramesh Sharma Poudel ◽  
Kailash Thapaliya ◽  
Tikaram Kharal ◽  
...  

Introduction: Hypertension is growing among the population of Nepal. We aimed to determine the current knowledge, attitude and practice of hypertension among hypertensive patients taking antihypertensive medication in the community of Central Nepal.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the hypertensive patients in Bharatpur, Chitwan, Nepal from July 2015 to September 2015 using clustered sampling technique. Suitably designed and validated questionnaire of knowledge, attitude and practice on hypertension consisting of 27 questions were used to determine the KAP scores. The difference in the median KAP scores between sex, level of education and duration of hypertension were assessed using Mann-Whitney U test.Results: A total of 200 patients met the inclusion criteria and majority of them were male (60%), had received primary education (36%) and had hypertension for ≥5 years (46.5%). The blood pressure ranged from 100-180/60-110 mmHg. The median K, A and P scores were 8 (6), 5 (1) and 6 (3) respectively. K and A were statistically associated with sex both at p<0.001 and level of education (K at p<0.001 and A at p=0.016).Conclusions: The current knowledge, attitude and practice among hypertensive patients using antihypertensive medication can be improved. Keywords: attitude; hypertension; knowledge; practice. | PubMed


Author(s):  
Sukhpreet Kaur

Background: India is one of the highest per capita out-of-pocket health expenditures (62%) country and use of generics can save a lot of money which can be used for other health issues. Lack of knowledge about cost effectiveness of generic medicines among the health-care professionals had led to a low rate of generic medicine prescription. The objective of this study was to explore the knowledge, attitude and practice of dental students towards the generic medicines.Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out using questions from pretested and validated questionnaire which are applicable to Indian scenario. A 22 items questionnaire were distributed to the participants to assess their knowledge, attitude and practice of generic medicine. All the Interns and MDS students were included in this study. The collected data was analyzed using microsoft excel.Results: 63.4% participants agreed generics can be interchanged with a branded drug. 89.74% participants were aware that bioequivalence studies are conducted by generic manufacturers for all the marketed generic medicines. Mostly participants (78.04%) were of opinion that generic medicines do not produce greater side effects than branded drugs. 54.05% participants reported that they were prescribing generic medicines. 52.38% participants were aware that generic medicine contains the same active substances as that innovator and used at same dose to treat same disease.Conclusions: In our study, we found that the prescribers had a considerable knowledge regarding the concept of generic medicines. However, to further increase the rate of generic medicine prescription training programs on generic medicines should be organized.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document