Journal of Education and Health Promotion

To study the knowledge about the handling of biomedical waste among health‑care workers in a COVID‑19 hospital setting

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Sukhbir Singh
. Vrinda Tom 1
. Ramesh Verma 2
. Ishwanti Malik 3
. Madan Gopal Vashist 4
. Pushpa Dahiya 5

1 O/o Nursing Superintendent, Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India

2 Department of Community Medicine, Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India

3 1 O/o Nursing Superintendent, Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India

4 Department of General Surgery, Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India

5 Medical Superintendent, Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana, India

Abstract
BACKGROUND: The unexpected increase in COVID‑19‑related waste and its inappropriate disposal
had blown up the threat of retransmission of this infection and adversely impacted the environment.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the existing knowledge about the handling of biomedical
waste (BMW) in the COVID‑19 Hospital setting among health‑care workers (HCWs).
MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was a prospective cross‑sectional study done for 3 months, i.e.,
October 2020–December 2020 among nursing professionals across all seniority posted in COVID
hospital. A pretested questionnaire comprised 20 questions was used as a study tool.
RESULTS: The response rate of our study was 94%. The mean age of respondents was 33.97 years,
and the mean length of service was 8.32 years. The study revealed that the respondents had a
mean knowledge score of 12.21 (Median 12, standard deviation 2.129 and 95% confidence interval
of 11.92–12.51).
CONCLUSIONS: There is consensus among the researchers/scholars that COVID‑BMW hazards
are much more significant than regular BMW. Therefore, its awareness among the HCWs can be a
panacea for safer handling of BMW generated in COVID Hospital.

Keywords

Biomedical waste
central pollution control board
COVID‑19
health care worker
pandemic
united nations environment program
World Health Organization
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 12, Issue 5
June 2022
Pages 1-6

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