Evaluation of Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Regarding Health-Care Waste Management

摘要

Introduction: Waste management in health care establish-ment is governed by rules and heavy penalty is imposed on those showing non-compliance. Training of Biomedical waste management is essential for effective management of health care waste.Aim: To train and evaluate health care workers on Biomedical waste management rules & regulations and occupational safety, followed by post-training assessment.Settings and design: This study was designed and conducted by the Department of Microbiology in coordination with the Biomedical waste management Cell.Materials and Methods: A study was planned for health care workers (HCW) over a period of nine months (May 2013 – January 2014). The study included presentations on Health-care waste management, knowledge and prevention of occupational exposure; and a virtual tour along with visit to waste management site in hospital. Post-training evaluation included ten questions followed by feedback. Practical evaluation was done on basis of demonstration by the participants.Results: A total of 459 HCW including doctors, nurses, technicians, and nursing assistants attended the training. The impact of training was most prominent among the nurses who scored an average of 86.7% marks followed by doctors (82%), technicians (72.6%) and nursing assistants (66.3%). The comparison of results was statistically significant (p<0.05) among doctors versus technicians, doctors versus nursing assistants; nurses versus technicians; and nurses versus nursing assistants. Feedback was given by 170 participants of which, 94.7% found great increase in knowledge and 94.1% found the topic adequately described.Conclusion: Training of health care workers (HCW) imparts knowledge, brings positive attitude and improves practices related to management of biomedical waste. Health care related activities generate waste which should be managed scientifically and in an environment friendly manner.