ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Research Article | Open Access
Monika Rajani
Department of Microbiology, Mayo Institute of Medical Sciences, Barabanki – 225 001, Uttar Pradesh, India.
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2021;15(4):2142-2151 | Article Number: 7098
https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.15.4.37 | © The Author(s). 2021
Received: 11/06/2021 | Accepted: 08/09/2021 | Published: 07/10/2021
Abstract

Improper waste management practices are a serious problem that involves not only the hospital staff but society at large. To improve biomedical waste (BMW) management, it is important to evaluate the current practices in BMW management (BMWM), identify the gaps, and address them. With this backdrop, this research was done to assess the awareness of BMW management practices among the healthcare professionals in a teaching hospital. This is a hospital-based observational study with assessment of 112 doctors, 230 nurses, and 158 waste handlers. The healthcare workers (HCW) were evaluated regarding awareness, and different practices of BMWM with a self-structured questionnaire. An overall score of  ≥50% in each section was considered satisfactory regarding awareness and practices for BMWM. Data were analyzed statistically using SPSS Ver.21 software. Regarding the awareness on various aspects of BMWM, doctors had maximum level of awareness at 68.6% (60.0% – 77.2%), followed by nurses at 69.3% (63.3%-75.3%) and waste handlers at 55.9% (48.2% – 63.6%). Overall nurses showed maximum awareness of existing practices at 74.0% followed by doctors at 70.2% and waste handlers were at 53.8%. To optimize BMWM, it is important to raise awareness on best practices while evaluating the current practices. Gaps in knowledge and skills need to be identified and closed. Ongoing information, education and communication for health care professionals are pivotal in improving BMWM practices.

Keywords

Biomedical waste (BMW), Biomedical waste management (BMWM), Biomedical waste team, Infection Control, Healthcare workers (HCW)

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