An Interventional Study on Bio Medical Waste Management among Nursing and Paramedical Staff in a Tertiary Care Hospital

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 in appropriate knowledge of handling of healthcare waste may have serious health consequences and a significant impact on the environment as well.

1. To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of Bio medical waste management among nurses and laboratory technicians.

2. To assess the effectiveness of Educational intervention on Bio medical waste management among them.

The study was conducted among 80 staff members during May-Sept 2014 in Sri Venkateshwara Medical College Hospital & Research Centre. A training programme on Bio medical waste management was conducted for the study participants and their performance was assessed before and after the training session. Analysis of data was done by applying Wilcoxson signed rank test and Mann Whitney U test to note the statistical significance.

Of total 80 study participants 75% (60) were nurses while 25% (20) were lab technicians. Significant statistical difference (pretraining and post training) was found among these staff members who have received training in biomedical waste management which is evident from the improved level of knowledge and attitude and practice about Biomedical waste management.

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.