Perception regarding Bio-medical Waste Management among medical students in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Background: Bio-medical waste is perilous and can be a health hazard. There is considerable role of medical undergraduates, interns and post-graduates in preventing hazardous consequences from mishandling of bio-medical waste. Aims & Objectives: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice about Bio-medical waste management among medical undergraduates, interns and post-graduate students. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 75 participants including MBBS students, interns and post-graduate students (25 from each group) at King George’s Medical University, Lucknow through purposive sampling technique over a period of one month. A structured self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using Chi-square, Fischer-exact, one-way ANOVA and Post Hoc (Tukey) Tests. Results: MBBS students had more knowledge and the better attitude towards BMW management guidelines as compared to interns and post-graduates(p<0.001), while post-graduate students were more aware of the needle-stick injury and were correctly practicing BMW management as compared to MBBS students and interns(p<0.001). Conclusions: Knowledge, attitude and practice regarding BMW management is still inadequate among MBBS students, interns and post-graduates, so repeated training-retraining and supportive supervision regarding the same should be foster. Strict regulations and surprise perusals might be a strong impetus for medical students and other health personnel.

A Comparative Study on Perception about Biomedical Waste Management among the Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital in South Delhi

“…So, inadequate knowledge and practice of BMWM are dangerous for their own health, their patients, and also those in the society and environment. 11,12 In this study, 86% of study participants were aware of biomedical waste legislation which was similar to the studies done by Sharma S and Deori TJ 13 and Ajmera V and Jayalakshmi LS 14 in which 86.2% and 84.17% of participants respectively were aware of BMW legislation. Our findings are a little contrary to the studies done by Chudasama RK et al, 6 BasuM et al, 7 Vohra P et al, 15 Soumya S et al, 16 11 where 84% of PG students and 68% of UG and interns had correct knowledge about the symbol of biohazard.…”

“…In a study done by Kumar AP et al, 4 postgraduate students had better knowledge than interns. Singh S et al, 12 in their study reported that postgraduate students and undergraduate students including interns have almost equal knowledge about colour coding.Contrary to our study, Haidar S et al reported in their study that nursing students had better knowledge about colour coding systems than permanent nursing staff. This may be due to the better the oretical knowledge or clinical training of nursing students from the first year onward.…”

“…A similar finding where 79.3% of healthcare professionals always followed BMWM guidelines was reported by Jalal SM et al, 19 in their study. Also, a study was done by Sharma S et al, 12 where 82% of participants were practising segregation of BMW. Chudasama RK et al, 6 in their study, showed that practices regarding different domains of BMWM varied between 63-87.9%.…”

Effectiveness of Teaching Programme on Knowledge Regarding Hospital Waste Management a mong House Keeping Employees

“…With regard to overall knowledge scores on Hospital Waste Management, majority (81.25%) of "housekeeping employees had inadequate knowledge and this was supported by the study on the knowledge and awareness regarding the Hospital waste management among the employees of a tertiary care hospital. 5 With regard to the "effectiveness of the structured teaching program, the mean post-test knowledge score" was 21.15, which was greater than the pre-test knowledge score (13.15), and it was statistically significant at the 0.001 level. This was supported by the study on the development of waste management protocols based on the knowledge and practice of health personnel in surgical departments.…”

Safe Hands, Safe Earth: Prioritizing Security and Sustainability in Medical Waste Management

“…Overall, it was observed that the knowledge and practices adopted for biomedical waste by the doctors and the nursing staffs was good". Bansal et al [11] in "research carried out in a hospital to collect information on knowledge possessed by the staff regarding biomedical waste management practices. Out of these 44.30% were medical, 29.74% were para-medical and 25.95% were non-medical staff.…”