Study of biomedical waste management among healthcare personnel at a Tertiary hospital in Lucknow district

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONDemand of healthcare need has increased drastically over the last few decades and simultaneously the number of healthcare facilities has increased in order to cater to the demands and needs of the people. There by increasing the quantum of hospital waste production. According to WHO, of the total amount of waste generated by healthcare activities, about 85% is general, non-hazardous waste and the remaining 15% is considered hazardous material that may be infectious, toxic or radioactive. Although, the quantity of the infectious waste produced is less as compared to the overall healthcare waste, the poor waste management practices by healthcare workers mix the infectious waste with non-infectious waste and thereby contaminate the whole waste. Healthcare facilities are like a double-edged sword, it caters for the healthcare needs and problems of the people by providing curative, promotive or preventive services but in the process it inevitably produces waste which in ABSTRACT Background: Healthcare facilities are like a double-edged sword, it caters to the healthcare needs and problems of the people by providing curative, promotive or preventive services but in the process it inevitably produces waste which in itself is hazardous to health if not managed properly. In order to improve biomedical waste management, it is important to understand and evaluate the current practices in biomedical waste management, to identify the gaps and to address them. The study was conducted to assess the practice of biomedical waste management among the healthcare personnel at a tertiary hospital. Methods: A hospital based cross sectional study was conducted among 314 healthcare personnel which comprised of 193 doctors, 85 staff nurses and 36 laboratory technicians. A pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Results: A total of 78% healthcare personnel had received training on BMW management. Most of the doctors (76.2%), staff nurses (70.6%) and laboratory technicians (72.2%) had received hepatitis B vaccination. And as for injection TT, 76.2% doctors, 85.9% staff nurses and 69.4% laboratory technicians had received it. Multivariate logistic regression showed association between waste segregation practices and occupation status and training which was statistically significant. Conclusions: The study revealed satisfactory practices among the healthcare personnel. It also showed association between waste segregation practices and training on BMW management. The importance of training regarding biomedical waste management cannot be overemphasized, training and retraining on healthcare waste management should be given to healthcare personnel.

Assessment of Knowledge about Healthcare Risk Waste Management at a Tertiary Hospital in the Northern Cape Province, South Africa

“…However, very few of these participants were aware that sharps should be disposed of when the container is three quarters full. These findings were higher than those of a study conducted at a tertiary hospital at Lucknow district, whereby only 66% of the health professionals reported to know the correct waste container for sharps waste disposal [ 31 ]. On average, about half of the Northern Cape tertiary hospital participants were aware of the bin for anatomical waste disposal and the bin for pharmaceutical waste, but very few managed to identify the bin for cytotoxic waste.…”

“…This result suggests that experienced professionals were more knowledgeable on the period for which HCRW are stored before disposal, whereas gender may have the upper hand on cumulative knowledge on waste storage period. The results of a similar study conducted among post-graduates, doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians and domestic workers in Lucknow district showed that there was association between waste segregation practices and age, gender, occupation status, work experience and training and it was statistically significant ( p < 0.05) [ 31 ].…”

Gauging the Effectiveness of Training Sessions Among Nurses Regarding Biomedical Waste Management: A Quasi-Experimental Study From a Developing Country

“…In this study, only 40% of the nurses had adequate knowledge of color-coding which was also improved after training. In another study, the same results showed a significant association between waste segregation and training of BWM among HCWs [ 16 ]. Therefore, training is an effective method that can make an appreciable increase in the knowledge about the color coding of biomedical waste.…”

“…The awareness of color coding is very important for the nurses because segregation at the point of generation in specified color containers was done by biomedical waste handlers [ 12 , 16 ]. All nurses should know about the waste and specific color where it can be collected from the wards and operation theaters [ 2 ].…”

Knowledge and practice survey of biomedical waste management among health care workers in tertiary care hospital of Vijayapura district

“…8 Deress 9 Imchen et al found total of 78% health care personnel had received training on BMW management. 10 Most of the doctors (76.2%), staff nurses (70.6%) and laboratory technicians (72.2%) had received hepatitis B vaccination and injection TT, 76.2% doctors, 85.9% staff nurses and 69.4% laboratory technicians had received it. Multivariate logistic regression showed association between waste segregation practices and occupation status and training which was statistically significant.…”