Oral Health and Dental Management

Abstract

Awareness of Biomedical Waste Management Among Health Care Personnel in Jaipur, India

Alok Sharma, Varsha Sharma, Swati Sharma, Prabhat Singh

Aims:The study aimed to determine the following among the workforce of the Jaipur Dental College, India: their awareness regarding biomedical (BM) waste management policy and practices, their attitude towards biomedical waste management, and their awareness regarding needle-stick injury and its prevalence among different categories of health care
providers.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a questionnaire with closed-ended questions. It was distributed to 144 dentists, nurses, laboratory technicians and Class IV employees (cleaners and maintenance personnel) at Jaipur Dental College. The questionnaire was used to assess their knowledge of biomedical medical waste disposal. The resulting answers were graded and the percentage of correct and incorrect answers for each question from all the participants was obtained.
Results: Of the 144 questionnaires, 140 were returned and the answers graded. The results showed that there was a poor level of knowledge and awareness of biomedical waste generation hazards, legislation and management among health care personnel. It was surprising that 36% of the nurses had an extremely poor knowledge of biomedical waste generation and legislation and just 15% of the Class IV employees had an excellent awareness of biomedical waste management practice.
Conclusions: It can be concluded from the present study that there are poor levels of knowledge and awareness about BM waste generation hazards, legislation and management among health care personnel in Jaipur Dental College.
Regular monitoring and training are required at all levels.