Background: Biomedical waste is any waste that is generated in the diagnosis, treatment, or immunization of human beings or animals, which carries a higher potential for infection and injury. Inadequate and inappropriate handling of health-care wastes has serious public health concerns and significant impact on the environment.
Objective: To assess the knowledge and awareness about various aspects of biomedical waste management among paramedical personnel.
Materials and Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was carried out on paramedical personnel working at MB General Hospital, RNT Medical College Udaipur, Rajasthan, India, from June 2014 to November 2014. Using multistage random sampling, 147 nurses working in various departments in the hospital and 34 lab technicians (LTs) working in central lab, blood bank, pathology, and microbiology departments were selected for this study.
Result: Only 79 (44.88%) knew of biomedical waste legislation and only 57 (32.38%) had correct knowledge of percentage of hazardous waste. Only one-third (54, 30.68%) knew of the categories of biomedical waste and only about half of the respondents (103, 58.52%) knew about disinfection of sharps before disposal. Seventy (39.77%) respondents were in favor of discarding used needles immediately. The practice score of LTs was significantly less than the nurses.
Conclusion: Knowledge regarding color coding and risks of handling biomedical waste was not adequate among the participants. Compulsory continuous intensive training programs should be conducted at regular time interval for all the paramedical personnel with special importance to the new comers.
Key words: Biomedical waste, knowledge, paramedical, nurses, lab technicians
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