Background: Biomedical waste management (BWM) has become a major challenge among health-care facilities around the world as these facilities continue to generate more than ever biomedical waste due to mounting health-care facilities.
Aims and Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and practices on BWM among I and IV year nursing students.
Materials and Methods: A non-experimental, descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at Sri Padmavathamma Govt. College of Nursing during October and November 2022 using the total enumeration method. A structured questionnaire was developed after extensive literature review and consultation with subject experts. The questionnaire consisted of a total of 31 questions, which included 12 questions to assess knowledge, 10 questions to assess attitude and 9 questions to assess practices. The collected data were entered in MS Excel spread sheet and analyzed using SPSS20 version software. Descriptive statistics was used to present the study findings. The Chi-square test was applied to assess the associations between knowledge, attitude, and practice scores with study groups (I and IV year students).
Results: A total of 180 nursing students participated, including 90 from I year and 90 from IV year. The results showed that 4th-year students had a better knowledge, positive attitude, and awareness with regard to all the aspects of BWM compared to 1st-year students.
Conclusion: Further improvement should be made through conducting programs on the knowledge and practices related to BWM in the interest of the environment, public health, and health of the health-care workers.
Key words: Biomedical Waste Management; Nursing Students; Knowledge, Attitude, Practices
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