|
|
ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
|
|
|
|
Year : 2011 | Volume
: 36
| Issue : 2 | Page : 143-145 |
|
Knowledge, attitude, and practices about biomedical waste management among healthcare personnel: A cross-sectional study
Vanesh Mathur1, S Dwivedi1, MA Hassan1, RP Misra2
1 Department of Community Medicine, MLN Medical College, Allahabad, India 2 JHU CSMMU Collaborative Centre, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Date of Submission | 21-Oct-2009 |
Date of Acceptance | 26-Jun-2010 |
Date of Web Publication | 22-Aug-2011 |
Correspondence Address: Vanesh Mathur G-203, Utsav Halwasiya Enclave, Opp. HAL, Faizabad Road, Indra Nagar, Lucknow - 226 016, Uttar Pradesh India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0970-0218.84135
Abstract | | |
Background: The waste produced in the course of healthcare activities carries a higher potential for infection and injury than any other type of waste. Inadequate and inappropriate knowledge of handling of healthcare waste may have serious health consequences and a significant impact on the environment as well. Objective: The objective was to assess knowledge, attitude, and practices of doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, and sanitary staff regarding biomedical waste management. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. Setting: The study was conducted among hospitals (bed capacity >100) of Allahabad city. Participants: Medical personnel included were doctors (75), nurses (60), laboratory technicians (78), and sanitary staff (70). Results: Doctors, nurses, and laboratory technicians have better knowledge than sanitary staff regarding biomedical waste management. Knowledge regarding the color coding and waste segregation at source was found to be better among nurses and laboratory staff as compared to doctors. Regarding practices related to biomedical waste management, sanitary staff were ignorant on all the counts. However, injury reporting was low across all the groups of health professionals. Conclusion: The importance of training regarding biomedical waste management needs emphasis; lack of proper and complete knowledge about biomedical waste management impacts practices of appropriate waste disposal.
Keywords: Biomedical waste management, hospital, medical professionals
How to cite this article: Mathur V, Dwivedi S, Hassan M A, Misra R P. Knowledge, attitude, and practices about biomedical waste management among healthcare personnel: A cross-sectional study. Indian J Community Med 2011;36:143-5 |
How to cite this URL: Mathur V, Dwivedi S, Hassan M A, Misra R P. Knowledge, attitude, and practices about biomedical waste management among healthcare personnel: A cross-sectional study. Indian J Community Med [serial online] 2011 [cited 2021 Mar 1];36:143-5. Available from: https://www.ijcm.org.in/text.asp?2011/36/2/143/84135 |
Introduction | |  |
In the persuasion of the aim of reducing health problems, eliminating potential risks, and treating sick people, healthcare services inevitably create waste which itself may be hazardous to health. The waste produced in the course of healthcare activities carries a higher potential for infection and injury than any other type of waste. Inadequate and inappropriate knowledge of handling of healthcare waste may have serious health consequences and a significant impact on the environment as well. It is estimated that annually about 0.33 million tonnes of hospital waste is generated in India and, the waste generation rate ranges from 0.5 to 2.0 kg per bed per day. [1] Wherever, generated, a safe and reliable method for handling of biomedical waste is essential. Effective management of biomedical waste is not only a legal necessity but also a social responsibility.
Though legal provisions [Biomedical Waste (management and handling) Rules 1998] [2] exist to mitigate the impact of hazardous and infectious hospital waste on the community, still these provisions are yet to be fully implemented. The absence of proper waste management, lack of awareness about the health hazards from biomedical wastes, insufficient financial and human resources, and poor control of waste disposal are the most critical problems connected with healthcare waste. [3] The hazardous impact of medical waste on the public and environment is enhanced manifold if adequate and appropriate handling of these wastes is not adopted. The hospital waste management has diverse ramifications as it not only affects the health of patients but also of healthcare workers (doctors, nurses, sanitary staff, etc.) and general public.
Although, there is an increased global awareness among health professionals about the hazards and also appropriate management techniques but the level of awareness in India is found to be unsatisfactory. [4],[5],[6]
Adequate knowledge about the health hazard of hospital waste, proper technique and methods of handling the waste, and practice of safety measures can go a long way toward the safe disposal of hazardous hospital waste and protect the community from various adverse effects of the hazardous waste. With this background, this study was conducted with the main objective of assessing knowledge, attitude, and practices of doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians, and sanitary staff regarding biomedical waste management.
Materials and Methods | |  |
The cross-sectional study was conducted as a part of a larger study of assessing biomedical waste management among hospitals with bed capacity >100 within Allahabad city. The study was conducted in 1 year. Study participants included healthcare personnel working in different departments of the hospitals. A total of 283 healthcare personnel consented for interview (93% response rate) which included 75 doctors, 60 nurses, 78 laboratory technicians, and 70 sanitary staff, who were interviewed and observed for biomedical waste management practices. These interviews and observations were conducted on a predesigned and a pretested questionnaire and checklist. All data forms underwent scrutiny for logical inconsistencies, skip patterns, and missing values. The data were coded and double entered into a relational database on Microsoft Access 2000. The data entry interface was designed to check for referential integrity, missing values, and acceptability constraints. Errors identified at any level were referred back to the field for correction. The percentages and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) have been being presented.
Results | |  |
In Allahabad city, majority of hospitals including government and private as well as nursing homes use a common private provider for the collection, management, and disposal of healthcare wastes and at times training regarding biomedical waste management to the healthcare personnel is arranged by the same common provider.
Analysis of data revealed that on all counts, doctors, nurses, and laboratory technicians have better knowledge than sanitary staff regarding biomedical waste management. Knowledge regarding the color coding and waste segregation at source was found to be better among nurses and laboratory staff as compared to doctors. Knowledge regarding the potential of transmission of diseases through biomedical waste was observed among only 27% sanitary staffs [Table 1].  | Table 1: Knowledge and attitude among healthcare personnel regarding biomedical waste management* (n = 283)
Click here to view |
Regarding practices related to biomedical waste management, sanitary staff were ignorant on all the counts. No sanitary staff ever reported any injury which would have occurred due to improperly disposed waste. However, injury reporting was low across all the groups of health professionals [Table 2]. | Table 2: Practice of healthcare personnel regarding biomedical waste management* (n = 283)
Click here to view |
Discussion | |  |
The study was conducted on predesigned and pretested questionnaire and a cross-sectional study design was selected as a similar design was adopted in other studies. [4],[5],[6],[7] Knowledge about biomedical waste management rules among the technically qualified personnel like the doctors, nurses, and laboratory staff was high but was low among the sanitary staff; this was similar to the findings from other studies. [4],[8] Similarly, knowledge about color coding of containers, and waste segregation which itself is probably the most important pivotal point and crucial for further waste management, was also found to be better among the technically qualified staff as compared to that of the sanitary staff. Low level of knowledge is mainly attributed to poor training facilities and also to relatively low educational level of the sanitary staff. Training of both the technical staff and the nontechnical staff is critical for the proper and appropriate management of biomedical waste. [4],[6] The practice of reporting of injuries resulting from improperly disposed biomedical waste was found to be miserably low among the technical staff and was found to be completely absent among the nontechnical sanitary staff. Stein et al. [9] in their study reported that among doctors and nurses, only 37% reported that they ever suffered needle stick injury. Low reporting of injuries may be attributed to the fact that most of the doctors and other technical and nontechnical staff are unaware about a formal system of injury reporting which should be established within all the health facilities.
Conclusion and Recommendations | |  |
Concluding from the results, the importance of training regarding biomedical waste management cannot be overemphasized; lack of proper and complete knowledge about biomedical waste management impacts practices of appropriate waste disposal.
Following recommendations are proposed: (i) strict implementation of biomedical waste management rules is the need of the hour, (ii ) it should be made compulsory for healthcare facilities to get their healthcare personnel trained from accredited training centers. These training sessions should not become merely a one-time activity but should be a continuous process depending upon the patient input in different healthcare facilities, (iii) training of sanitary staff should be specially emphasized, and (iv) it should be ensured that the injuries happening to the healthcare personnel are reported to the person in-charge of biomedical waste management or to the biomedical waste management committee, and they report it in the prescribed format to the pollution control board.
Acknowledgment | |  |
We are thankful to Dr. S Bali (MD), Assistant Professor, MLN Medical College, Allahabad, for his continued guidance during the study.
References | |  |
1. | Patil AD, Shekdar AV. Health-care waste management in India. J Environ Manage 2001;63:211-20.  [PUBMED] [FULLTEXT] |
2. | Ministry of Environment and forest notification on the Bio-Medical Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 1998.  |
3. | Plianbangchang PH. "A Report on Alternative Treatment and Non-Burn Disposal Practices"; Safe Management of Bio-medical Sharps Waste in India. W.H.O. Publication.  |
4. | Pandit NB, Mehta HK, Kartha GP, Choudhary SK. Management of bio-medical waste: Awareness and practices in a district of Gujarat. Indian J Public Health 2005;49:245-7.  [PUBMED] |
5. | Rao PH. Report: Hospital waste management--awareness and practices: A study of three states in India. Waste Manage Res 2008;26:297-303.th  |
6. | Kishore J, Goel P, Sagar B, Joshi TK. Awareness about biomedical waste management and infection control among dentists of a teaching hospital in New Delhi, India. Indian J Dent Res 2000;11:157-61.  [PUBMED] |
7. | Verma LK, Mani S, Sinha N, Rana S. Biomedical waste management in nursing homes and smaller hospitals in Delhi. Waste Manage Res 2008;28:2723-34.  |
8. | Saini S, Nagarajan SS, Sarma RK. Knowledge; Attitude and Practices of Bio-Medical Waste Management Amongst Staff of a Tertiary Level Hospital in India. J Acad Hosp Adm 2005;17:2.  |
9. | Stein AD, Makarawo TP, Ahmad MF. A survey of doctors' and nurses' knowledge, attitudes and compliance with infection control guidelines in Birmingham teaching hospitals. J Hosp Infect 2003;54:68-73.  [PUBMED] [FULLTEXT] |
[Table 1], [Table 2]
This article has been cited by | 1 |
Waste management in an Italian Hospitalæs operating theatres: An observational study |
|
| Alex Amariglio,Daniela Depaoli | | American Journal of Infection Control. 2020; | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 2 |
Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices on E-Waste Recycling among Public in Port Dickson |
|
| Tengku Adeline Adura Tengku Hamzah,Amirah Sariyati Mohd Yahya,Aziz Shafie | | Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities. 2020; 28(4) | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 3 |
Biomedical waste management practices in health centers in Chandigarh, India |
|
| Meenu Kalia,NaveenKrishan Goel,Ravi Rohilla,Dinesh Walia,Navpreet Singh | | International Archives of Health Sciences. 2020; 7(4): 165 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 4 |
Current knowledge, attitude and practices of dental residents towards biomedical waste management: A cross sectional study |
|
| Sampada Suresh Kulkarni,V. H. Sushanth,G. M. Prashant,Mohamed Imranulla,H. P. Vivek,Fhelen Debbie da Costa | | Journal of Global Oral Health. 2019; 2: 23 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 5 |
Disposal Practice of Unfit Medicines in Nongovernmental Hospitals and Private Medicine Outlets Located in Mwanza, Tanzania |
|
| Stanley Mwita,Godfrey Ngonela,Deogratias Katabalo | | Journal of Environmental and Public Health. 2019; 2019: 1 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 6 |
Knowledge and Practice of Health Workers about Healthcare Waste Management in Public Health Facilities in Eastern Ethiopia |
|
| Tadelle Doylo,Tadesse Alemayehu,Negga Baraki | | Journal of Community Health. 2019; 44(2): 284 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 7 |
Determining a conceptual framework for safe and sustainable health-care waste management (SSHCWM) implementation in health-care facilities |
|
| Timothy Kurannen Baaki,Mohamad Rizal Baharum,Azlan Shah Ali | | Journal of Facilities Management. 2019; 17(1): 40 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 8 |
Acidentes de trabalho entre profissionais da limpeza hospitalar em uma capital do Nordeste, Brasil |
|
| Sâmea Cristina Santos Gomes,Isabela Vieira dos Santos Mendonça,Luana Pontes Oliveira,Arlene de Jesus Mendes Caldas | | Ciência & Saúde Coletiva. 2019; 24(11): 4123 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 9 |
Effectiveness of education program on hospital waste management |
|
| Naglaa M. Abdo,Wafaa S. Hamza,Mariam A. Al-Fadhli | | International Journal of Workplace Health Management. 2019; 12(6): 457 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 10 |
Keeping in pace with the new Biomedical Waste Management Rules: What we need to know! |
|
| Gurpreet Singh Bhalla,Kuntal Bandyopadhyay,Kavita Sahai | | Medical Journal Armed Forces India. 2019; 75(3): 240 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 11 |
Comparative analysis of cost of biomedical waste management across varying bed strengths in rural India |
|
| Brayal Carry DæSouza,Arun Mavaji Seetharam,Varalakshmi Chandrasekaran,Rajesh Kamath | | International Journal of Healthcare Management. 2018; 11(1): 38 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 12 |
Knowledge, attitudes and practices of healthcare workers about healthcare waste management at a district hospital in KwaZulu-Natal |
|
| Adekunle Olaifa,Romona D Govender,Andrew J Ross | | South African Family Practice. 2018; 60(5): 137 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 13 |
A aplicação do modelo FPSEEA no gerenciamento de resíduos de serviço de saúde |
|
| Nilva Lúcia Rech Stedile,Vania Elisabete Schneider,Monique Walltrick Nunes,Adriane Carine Kappes | | Ciência & Saúde Coletiva. 2018; 23(11): 3683 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 14 |
Impacts of hospital waste management on the health and environment of Ogbomoso area, Oyo state |
|
| Adeoye AO | | Hospice and Palliative Medicine International Journal. 2018; 2(6) | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 15 |
Knowledge and practice of waste management among hospital cleaners |
|
| C Nwankwo | | Occupational Medicine. 2018; 68(6): 360 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 16 |
STUDY ON ASSESSMENT OF BIOMEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN A DISTRICT OF ASSAM |
|
| Alpana Priya Rabha,Pankaj Bayan,Arpita Nath,Rupali Baruah | | Journal of Evolution of Medical and Dental Sciences. 2018; 7(33): 3710 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 17 |
Occupational blood exposures in health care workers: incidence, characteristics, and transmission of bloodborne pathogens in South Korea |
|
| Ju Hyun Lee,Junhyeon Cho,Yung Jung Kim,Sang Hyuk Im,Eun Sun Jang,Jin-Wook Kim,Hong Bin Kim,Sook-Hyang Jeong | | BMC Public Health. 2017; 17(1) | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 18 |
Knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of ‘teaching laboratory’ technicians towards laboratory safety and waste management: a pilot interventional study |
|
| A.-H. El-Gilany,S. El-shaer,E. Khashaba,S.A. El-dakroory,N. Omar | | Journal of Hospital Infection. 2017; 96(2): 192 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 19 |
Health care waste management in community-based care: experiences of community health workers in low resource communities in South Africa |
|
| Lydia Hangulu,Olagoke Akintola | | BMC Public Health. 2017; 17(1) | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 20 |
Current Perspectives on Biomedical Waste Management: Rules, Conventions and Treatment Technologies |
|
| Malini R. Capoor,Kumar Tapas Bhowmik | | Indian Journal of Medical Microbiology. 2017; 35(2): 157 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 21 |
Evaluation of practicing safety features for hospital waste collection among Iran’s public hospitals |
|
| Mohammad Arab,Hossein Safari,Hamed Zandian,Farhad Habibi Nodeh | | Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management. 2017; 19(2): 939 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 22 |
HEMSIRELIK ÖGRENCILERININ HASTANE ATIKLARININ YÖNETIMINE ILISKIN BILGI DÜZEYLERI |
|
| Pinar DOGAN,Sonay AKTAS | | Kocatepe Tip Dergisi. 2017; 18(3): 94 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 23 |
AWARENESS ABOUT BIOMEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT AMONGST MEDICAL INTERNS- AN INTERVENTIONAL STUDY FROM CENTRAL INDIA |
|
| Anasua Deb,Sunita Gajbhiye,Sharmila Raut | | Journal of Evolution of Medical and Dental Sciences. 2017; 6(16): 1256 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 24 |
Biological risk among hospital housekeepers |
|
| Priscilla Santos Ferreira Ream,Anaclara Ferreira Veiga Tipple,Dayane Xavier Barros,Adenícia Custódia Silva Souza,Milca Severino Pereira | | Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health. 2016; 71(2): 59 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 25 |
Sustentabilidade ambiental nos processos de medicação realizados na assistência de enfermagem hospitalar |
|
| Patricia de Oliveira Furukawa,Isabel Cristina Kowal Olm Cunha,Mavilde da Luz Gonçalves Pedreira,Patricia Beryl Marck | | Acta Paulista de Enfermagem. 2016; 29(3): 316 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 26 |
Analysis of Health Workers’ Perceptions on Medical Waste Management in Tanzanian Hospitals |
|
| Ignasio S. Kagonji,Samwel V. Manyele | | Engineering. 2016; 08(07): 445 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 27 |
Hospital housekeepers: Victims of ineffective hospital waste management |
|
| Priscilla Santos Ferreira Ream,Anaclara Ferreira Veiga Tipple,Thaís Arvelos Salgado,Adenícia Custódia Silva Souza,Sandra Maria Brunini Souza,Hélio Galdino-Júnior,Sergiane Bisinoto Alves | | Archives of Environmental & Occupational Health. 2016; 71(5): 273 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 28 |
Health Care Waste Segregation Behavior among Health Workers in Uganda: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior |
|
| Martha Akulume,Suzanne N. Kiwanuka | | Journal of Environmental and Public Health. 2016; 2016: 1 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 29 |
Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases: Winning on Facts but Losing on Passion |
|
| Gerard Anderson | | Health Systems & Reform. 2015; : 1 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 30 |
Service supply chain environmental performance evaluation using Grey based hybrid MCDM approach |
|
| P. Chithambaranathan,Nachiappan Subramanian,Angappa Gunasekaran,PL.K. Palaniappan | | International Journal of Production Economics. 2015; | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 31 |
Evaluation of an education and training intervention to reduce health care waste in a tertiary hospital in Spain |
|
| Margarita Mosquera,Maria José Andrés-Prado,Gil Rodríguez-Caravaca,Pello Latasa,Marta E.G. Mosquera | | American Journal of Infection Control. 2014; | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 32 |
Evaluation of Knowledge, Practices, and Possible Barriers among Healthcare Providers regarding Medical Waste Management in Dhaka, Bangladesh |
|
| Nobuyuki Hamajima | | Medical Science Monitor. 2014; 20: 2590 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 33 |
Knowledge of sanitary workers regarding Bio medical waste management |
|
| Akoijam Mamata Devi,Malar Kodi Aathi | | i-manager’s Journal on Nursing. 2014; 4(2): 21 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 34 |
Medical waste management training for healthcare managers - a necessity? |
|
| Aclan Ozder,Bahri Teker,Hasan Eker,Selma Altindis,Merve Kocaakman,Oguz Karabay | | Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering. 2013; 11(1): 20 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 35 |
Knowledge, attitude and practice of hospital staff management |
|
| Lakbala, P. and Lakbala, M. | | Waste Management and Research. 2013; 31(7): 729-732 | | [Pubmed] | | 36 |
result 1 Document Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practices of biomedical waste management among staff of a secondary care hospital in Narowal |
|
| Authors of Document Arshad, T., Shabbir, A., Asghar, M.I., (...), Naeemullah, S., Afzal, S. | | Source of the Document Pakistan Journal of Medical and Health Sciences. 2013; | | [Pubmed] | | 37 |
Knowledge, attitude and practice of hospital staff management |
|
| Parvin Lakbala,Mahboobeh Lakbala | | Waste Management & Research. 2013; 31(7): 729 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | 38 |
result 2 Document A study of the impact of three day training programme on knowledge regarding biomedical waste among paramedical staff of District hospital Etawah (UP) |
|
| Authors of Document Srivastava, D.K., Bansal, M., Gour, N., (...), Chouksey, M., Pathak, P. | | Source of the Document Indian Journal of Community Health. 2012; | | [Pubmed] | | 39 |
Impact of training in advanced waste management [Impacto de una acción formativa en la gestión avanzada de residuos] |
|
| Mosquera, M. and Latasa, P. and RodrÃguez, G. and Guillen, C. and Gil, A. | | Medicina Preventiva. 2012; 18(1): 24-28 | | [Pubmed] | |
|
 |
|
|
|
|