The Knowledge, attitude and practices about bio-medical waste management system in a tertiary care 60 bedded hospital in Rajasthan, India.

Background and PurposeFrom antiquity, the healthcare facilities have treated sick people but there was little awareness about the fact that hospitals generate a lot of hazardous bio-medical waste, which had been disposed without proper guidelines. Lately, it has been a proven thing that bio-medical-waste is a potential hazard for heath-personals, and environment. Therefore, it must be disposed in a proper manner. ObjectivesThis was an observational study carried out at one of the tertiary care hospitals in Rajgarh city about the knowledge, attitude and practices of the hospital staff about the bio-medical waste management. Material and methodAn observational (cross-sectional) study using questionnaires was carried out at one of the non-NABH accredited tertiary care hospitals of Rajgarh City in Rajasthan (India). ResultsMore than 70% staff (except housekeeping) had good ideas about waste categories, segregation and color coding except in radioactive waste. The house keeping staff did well in 3 categories (Linen, sharps and glasses). Most of the employees has clarity about BMW except the housekeeping staff which did well on most of parameters except barcoding, pretreatment of anatomical/ biotechnology waste, knowledge about STP plant (Sewage treatment plant), Hazmat and signage. On actual hospital rounds we found that the hazmat practices were in a poor shape. Most of staff was aware occupational hazards except housekeeping staff. ConclusionA written policy, induction training of healthcare workers, constant and repetitive workshops, and motivation are important human factors to implement the biomedical waste practices in a small-scale healthcare organization. Risk-stratification, understanding of health hazards and how to activate hazmat protocols are important things which are to be brought into practice.