Knowledge, awareness, attitude, and practice regarding biomedical waste management among health care workers in tertiary care setting

Author(s):  
Geeta Shamnani ◽  
Dileep Verma ◽  
Shekhawat Bhartiy
Author(s):  
Arthi M ◽  
Surendar R ◽  
Srikanth S ◽  
Latha S ◽  
Radhika .

Background: Biomedical waste has become a crucial health hazard in many countries including India. Careless and indiscriminate disposal of these wastes can contribute to the spread of serious diseases. The new guideline of Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules -2016 was released on March, 2016 and revised in 2018. In order to update the new rules periodically, the present study was carried out with the aim to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice on biomedical waste management among health care workers working in a tertiary hospital in Puducherry and to evaluate the effectiveness of sensitisation program regarding 2016 Bio-medical waste management rules. Methods: All staff nurses and nursing assistants working at SVMCH & RC, Puducherry were included. Study period was between August and October 2016. About 103 willing participants were included.The participants were assessed by pre-test and post-test with a semi-structured questionnaire. Dataanalysed using SPSS (version 23).Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to compare pre-test and post-test score. Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests were applied to find the significant difference before and after intervention. Results:Among total participants (103), 83.5% of the participants were Staff Nurses, 10.7% Female Nursing Assistant and rest Auxiliary Nursing Mid-wife. About 68 % of them have reported that it is the sole responsibility of the Government in proper management of Bio-medical waste and 27.2% of them reported that procedures involved in Bio-Medical Waste Management (BMWM) are increasing the financial burden of their hospital.Regarding identification of the symbol of bio-hazard, there was a significant increase in knowledge in the post-test when compared to the pre-test. About 40.8% (42) of participants had poor knowledge about BMW in pre test. Regarding attitude and practice, in the pre-test, around 59% have said that they will report about any injury due to or during wrong disposal whereas in the post-test it has been increased to 78% which is statistically significant (p<0.05). About 89.3% of the participants reported that they are having the practice of wearing gloves while handling BMW in pre-test whereas in the post-test, 94.2% has reported. Overall mean and standard deviation of pre-test and post-test scores regarding BMW shows a statistically significant improvement in KAP score regarding biomedical waste management and new rules in the post-test after interventionthan the pre-test. Conclusions:The knowledge of the participants regarding management of bio-medical waste is still in its childhood stage.There was an evident increase after administration of sensitisation program.


Author(s):  
Pavan P. Amin ◽  
Kishor M. Sochaliya ◽  
Girija P. Kartha

Background: Healthcare generates a large amount of healthcare waste, which is complex to manage because of its variety and potential to create health and safety hazards if improperly handled. Inadequate management of biomedical waste can be associated with risks to healthcare workers, patients, communities and their environment. The aims and objectives of the study were to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of health care personnel in C. U. Shah Hospital, Surendranagar regarding Biomedical Waste Management (BMW).Methods: This hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted in C. U. Shah Medical College, Surendranagar from February 2017 to March 2017. The study consisted of 300 Health Care Workers as participants, which included 100 doctors, 100 resident doctors and 100 paramedical staff. The data was collected using a predesigned, semi structured questionnaire containing questions on KAP regarding bio-medical waste management.Results: The awareness regarding legislation and disposal of BMW as per color coded bags was found in 79% and 85% of the participants respectively. Only 54% of the respondents knew that BMW should not be stored beyond 48 hours and 91.7% participants are agreed that needle stick injury is a major concern. All the participants are following the practice of not recapping the used needle. 75% respondents disposed sharp materials in translucent bag.Conclusions: Knowledge regarding biomedical waste management among doctors is satisfactory as compared to other health care workers. This has led to the poor practice of biomedical waste handling and management, hence exposing themselves and the public in general to health and environment hazards.


Author(s):  
Abhishek Mehta

Background: The hazardous impact of biomedical waste on the community and environment is enhanced manifold if it is not managed effectively. Appropriate knowledge and awareness amongst the health care workers about the biomedical waste management, will help in minimizing health care associated infections. Purpose: There are no such studies in this part of the country to identify the gaps / lacunae in knowledge, attitude & practices amongst health care workers, so that timely corrective measures could be instituted in the form of educational interventions. Material & Methods: This Questionnaire based descriptive study was undertaken at a tertiary care teaching hospital of western Uttar Pradesh in March 2018 after obtaining clearance from Institutional ethics committee. A total of 85 subjects (30 Doctors, 30 Nurses, 25 Laboratory technicians) were administered pre structured pre-validated anonymous questionnaire. Mean scores of the Knowledge, Attitudes and practices of the three groups were compared by Anova test and the comparison between any two study groups done using unpaired t test and the significance  level was set to 0.05. Results: While comparing Knowledge, attitude and practices between Doctors & Nurses, though doctors scored higher in all 3 sections but the difference was statistically significant only in the Knowledge and Practice levels. While comparing KAP scores between Nurses & Lab.technicians, though nurses scored higher but a statistically significant difference was seen in the attitude levels only.There was a statistically significant difference in the scores of Doctors, Nurses & Lab. Technicians in all the three sections Conclusion: Such studies help in detecting the gaps & lacunae in knowledge, attitude & practices amongst different categories of health care providers which could be addressed through targeted educational interventions at regular intervals. This would help in reducing the incidence of health hazards due to improper BMW management. Keywords: Knowledge, Attitude, Practices, Doctors, Nurses, Laboratory technicians, Questionnaire, Biomedical waste management.


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