Abstract

Biomedical waste is a special category of waste, which carries potentially infectious or hazardous components. Inadequate and inappropriate knowledge of handling healthcare waste may have serious health consequences and a significant impact on the environment as well. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional observational study was done at the Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences, Narketpally. A validated questionnaire (Annexure 1) was distributed among 100 participants, stratified equally among five categories i.e. Doctors, Resident doctors, Nursing staff, Lab technicians, and Housekeeping staff. The questionnaire had four sections, the first section had questions to assess knowledge, the second session had questions to assess awareness, the third session has questions to assess attitude and the fourth section assessed the practices. Results: The results of the data collected showed that 60% of Doctors had excellent knowledge and 20% of staff nurses had average or poor knowledge, 55% of lab Technicians have excellent awareness and 10% of Resident Doctors had average awareness, 90% housekeeping staff had excellent attitude while 10% resident doctors had average attitude, 75% of Resident Doctors had excellent practices while 15% Lab Technicians had average practices. Conclusion: The attitude and practices of the healthcare workers are to be improved, with more emphasis on staff nurses, lab Technicians, and housekeeping staff. Constant awareness sessions regarding biomedical waste disposal and handling should be enforced.

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