Knowledge of Sanitary Workers regarding Bio medical Waste
Management
Mrs. Akoijam Sangita Devi1,
Mrs. Malar Kodi Aathi2
1Assistant Professor, Dept of Medical
Surgical Nursing, M.M Institute of Nursing, M.M University Mullana, Ambala
Haryana.133207
2Assistant Professor, Dept of Child Health
Nursing, M.M Institute of Nursing, M.M University Mullana, Ambala
Haryana.133207
*Corresponding
Author Email: akdevi81@gmail.com,
malargeethu@gmail.com
ABSTRACT:
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 inappropriate knowledge of
handling of healthcare waste may have serious health consequences and a
significant impact on the environment as well. This study aims to see whether
PTP has significant impact on level of knowledge and expressed practices of
sanitary workers regarding bio-medical waste management, relationship between
level of knowledge and expressed practices and to seek the association between
knowledge scores with selected demographic variable. The experimental approach
one group pretest post design and non-Probability purposive sampling technique,
data was collected by using self report interview technique. The collected data
was analyzed a it shows that there was marked gain in the mean knowledge score
(73.31%) and expressed practice (72.10%) after PTP. There was positive
relationship seen between level of knowledge and expressed practice at 0.05
level (t=0.273). There was no significant association found between selected
demographic variables (age, gender, and work experience, present area of work,
monthly income and source of information) with knowledge score nurses regarding
Bio-Medical Waste Management.
KEY WORDS: Biomedical Waste Management, Health care
activities, knowledge, expressed practices. Sanitary workers.
INTRODUCTION:
Biomedical wastes are defined as waste that
is generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings or
animals, or in research activities pertaining thereto, or in the production of
biological waste management; healthcare wastes hold higher priority due to
their hazardous nature.
According to World Health
Organization (WHO) some part of healthcare wastes is considered most hazardous
that can affect human health and pollute the environment badly. In a working
environment that have unsafe health care waste management practices may result
an exposure to infectious wastes by Healthcare workers (HCWs), patients,
clients that could in turn create infection due to blood borne pathogens.
In the preceding time, many efforts have
been directed toward proper and safe management of hazardous healthcare waste
for less developed Wastes that emerge from healthcare institutions are named as
hospital wastes, and cause considerable environment pollution. Such wastes
represent significant health risks for the hospital employees, patients and the
society.
Hospital wastes are categorized as
household wastes, medical wastes, chemical wastes, infective wastes, chemical
wastes and radioactive wastes Of
the hospital wastes, 80% are household wastes, 15% are pathological and
infective wastes, 3% are chemical and pharmaceutical wastes and 1% are
radioactive and cytotoxic wastes prevent injury to healthcare employees,
patients and the environment by medical wastes, persons responsible for waste
management ought to have the requisite knowledge, attitude and behavior. Moreover, it is inevitable to produce an effective
management plan in healthcare institutions for the separation of wastes and to
have medical wastes controlled and rendered harmless.
The realization of these goals primarily
necessitates the healthcare managers in hospitals to have sufficient knowledge
on the subject. Success in medical waste management may be achieved at in-house
training in hospitals instructed by sufficiently knowledgeable managers who
have grasped the importance of the subject. This study was performed in order
to investigate whether training has significant impact on knowledge levels of
healthcare managers (head-nurses, assistant head nurses, hospital managers and
deputy managers) regarding bio-medical waste management.
According to ISHWM (Indian society hospital
waste management) the quantum of waste that is generated in India is estimated
to be 1-2 kg per bed per day in a hospital and 600 gm per day per bed in a
general practioners clinic. E.g. a 100 bedded hospital will generate 100 – 200
kgs of hospital waste/day. It is estimated that only 5 – 10% of this comprises
of hazardous/infectious waste (5 – 10kgs/day).
Waste management is one of the important
public health measures. If we go into the historical background, before
discovery of bacteria as cause of disease, the principle focus of preventive
medicine and public health has been on sanitation. The provision of potable
water, disposal of odour from sewage and refuse were considered the important
factors in Prevention of epidemics.
Medical care is vital for our life and
health, but the waste generated from medical activities represents a real
problem of living nature and human world. Improper management of waste
generated in health care facilities causes a direct health impact on the
community, the health care workers and on the environment Every day, relatively
large amount of potentially infectious and hazardous waste are generated in the
health care hospitals and facilities around the world. Indiscriminate disposal
of BMW or hospital waste and exposure to such waste possess serious threat to
environment and to human health that requires specific treatment and management
prior to its final disposal. The review article deals with the basic issues as
definition, categories, problems relating to biomedical waste and procedure of
handling and disposal method of Biomedical Waste Management. It also intends to
create awareness amongst the personnel involved in health care unit.
Proper disposal of biomedical waste is of
paramount importance because of its infectious and hazardous characteristics.
Improper disposal can result in the following:
·
Organic
portion ferments and attracts fly breedin
·
Injuries
from sharps to all categories of health care personnel and waste handlers
·
Increase
risk of infections to medical, nursing and other hospital staff Injuries from
sharps to health workers and waste handlers
·
Poor
infection control can lead to nosocomial infections in patients particularly
HIV, Hepatitis B & C
·
Increase in
risk associated with hazardous chemicals and drugs being handled by persons
handling wastes
·
Poor waste
management encourages unscrupulous persons to recycle disposables and disposed
drugs for repacking and reselling
Development of resistant strains
of microorganisms
It must be properly managed to protect the
general public, specifically healthcare and sanitation workers who are
regularly exposed to biomedical waste as an occupational hazard. In hospitals, medical
waste, otherwise known as clinical waste, normally refers to waste products
that cannot be considered general waste, produced from healthcare premises,
such as hospitals, clinics, doctors offices, veterinary hospitals and labs. The
literatures shows that that disposal of health care waste requires special
attention since it can crate major health hazard therefore, need of awareness
on BMWM (Biomedical wastes management) among sanitary workers have great deal.
PROBLEM STATEMENT:
Effectiveness of planned teaching programme
regarding biomedical waste management among sanitary workers in terms of
knowledge and expressed practices in selected hospital of ambala, Haryana.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:
Ø To assess and compare the level
of knowledge and expressed practices of sanitary workers regarding Biomedical
wastes management before and after administration of planned teaching
programme.
Ø To determine the relationship of
the level of knowledge and expressed practices of sanitary workers regarding
Biomedical wastes management with selected variables.
HYPOTHESIS:
All hypotheses will be tested at 0.05 level
of significance
H1: The mean post test knowledge and
expressed practice score of sanitary workers on BMW management will be
significantly higher than their mean pre-test knowledge score and expressed
practice score.
H2: There will be significant relationship
between the level of knowledge and level expressed practice on BMW management
among sanitary workers.
METHODOLOGY:
An experimental and one
group pretest post test design was used for the study. This study was carried
out in MMIMS&R Hospital, Mullana. Ambala. The sample comprised of
50 sanitary workers selected by using Non Probability purposive sampling
technique. Data was collected by self report interview technique. Data was
collected by using structured knowledge questionnaire and expressed practice
check list regarding bio-medical waste management before and
after planned teaching programme. The collected data was analyzed by using Descriptive statistics
(frequency, percentage, mean, median, standard deviation) and inferential
statistics Chi-square (to see association
between level knowledge and expressed practices with selected demographic
variables o sanitary workers) Paired t -test (to seek the
difference between pre test and post test score knowledge and expressed practices).
Lakshmi BS, Kumar P: Awareness
about bio-medical waste management among healthcare personnel of some important
medical centers in Agra. Int J Eng Res Tech 2012, 1(7):1-5.