Knowledge, attitude and practices among health care professionals of surgery wards in tertiary care hospitals of Lucknow regarding biomedical waste and its management

Abstract

Healthcare is one of the fastest growing sectors in India. The wastes generated from healthcare setups are serious threat to the environment as well as to the people associated. Hospitals are lacking the proper action to dispose these bio-medical wastes (BMW). Lack of knowledge and inadequate practices has led to the hospitals becoming the hub for spreading illness. To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of bio-medical waste and its management among health care professionals of surgery wards in tertiary care hospitals of   Lucknow. This study was an observational descriptive hospital based cross sectional study. It was conducted in surgery department of 5 tertiary care hospitals of Lucknow. Study included 250 respondents including surgeons, resident doctors, nurses and OT technicians. The study was done by using a pre tested, semi-structured questionnaire. Regarding knowledge about the BMW 94.8 % have heard of BMW while 91.6% have heard of BMW Rule/Act. 53.6 % know about all the BMW categories. Only 55.2% have received any BMW training. Only 56.4 % identified the colours correctly. This study shows that knowledge regarding BMW and its management is not adequate. Hospitals are lacking proper BMW management protocols and healthcare personnel are not practicing the BMW Rules/Act properly. To improve the overall outcome, there should be the compulsory training of health care workers and bio medical waste management rules should be implemented strictly.