Bio-Medical Waste Management among Health Care Providers and Support Staff in a Secondary Level Hospital: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: According to WHO, for every ۱۰۰ hospitalized patients at least ۷ in developed and ۱۰ in developing countries acquire healthcare associated infection. Important factors that put the patients at the risk of infections are inadequate environmental hygiene, waste disposal, and poor knowledge, and application of basic infection control measures. To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding biomedical waste management (BMWM) among health care providers (HCP) and support staffs in a secondary level Hospital with the goal of identifying gaps and informing strategies for improved compliance and waste management practices. Methods: A cross-sectional study was done in government hospital, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam district, during September ۲۰۱۸ to November ۲۰۱۸. Among the ۳۲ districts in Tamilnadu, Nagapattinam district was randomly selected and Mayiladuthurai government hospital was randomly selected among ۹ secondary level care hospitals. All the categories of staff in the hospital like doctors, pharmacists, staff nurses, lab and x ray technicians, sanitary workers who handle the biomedical waste in the study area were included in the study. After getting informed consent, data was collected using pre-tested semi structured questionnaire. Data entry was made in the Microsoft Excel software and analysis was done with SPSS version ۲۱ software package.   Results: Out of ۱۰۹ participants, ۲۴.۸% were males and ۷۵.۲% were females. Age group of the participants ranges from ۲۰-۶۰ with the mean age of ۳۵.۳۴ and standard deviation of ۷.۵۱. Majority of them belong to ۳۱-۴۰ age group (۴۴%). In this study, based on the work experience ۷۲.۵% participants belong to ۰-۸ -years' experience group, ۲۲.۹% participants belong to ۹- ۱۶years experience and about ۴.۶% belongs to ۱۷-۲۴ years of experience group. It was observed that those having adequate knowledge and good attitude about BMW management were found to have less adequate practices which also varies among different categories of health workers (p < ۰.۰۰۱). Conclusions: The results of the present study showed that knowledge, attitude and practices of participants were not adequate among different categories of health care providers. Safe and effective management of waste is not only a legal necessity but also a social responsibility. The government should take the responsibility to train effectively the healthcare providers working in secondary healthcare settings. Compulsory continuous intensive training programs should be conducted at regular time interval for all the paramedical personnel with special importance to the newcomers, and they should have access to BMWM guidelines in their department/healthcare delivery section. The authors recommend similar studies in different settings and further research to provide accurate data for future decision-making.

کلیدواژه ها:

Biomedical waste management ، knowledge ، healthcare workers ، paramedical ، nurses ، lab technicians