Nadia Tariq, Abdul Majid Rajput, Abrar Hussain Azad, Muhammad Afzal, Farwa Rizvi.
Awareness and practices regarding waste management in health care staff of hospitals of Rawalpindi.
Isra Med J Jan ;6(3):136-41.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the knowledge and practices of health care staff including administrators, doctors, nurses, para medical staff, housekeeping staff regarding hospital waste management. STUDY DESIGN: A cross sectional study PLACE AND DURATION: It was conducted in Social Security Hospital, Islamabad and Ahmed Complex Hospital, Rawalpindi from 1 October 2012- 31 December 2012. METHODOLOGY: A total of 96 health care workers were included by purposive sampling technique, including 8 administrators, 40 doctors, 27 nurses, 5 para medical staff, 16 housekeeping staff. The data was collected on a structured questionnaire for afterwards statistical analysis. RESULTS: Health care staff aware of biomedical waste were 82.4% (n=84).There was significant difference (p=0.003) in knowledge of hospital staff of different designations regarding biomedical waste, hazards related to sharps (p=0.000), improper waste disposal (p=0.000). Health care staff aware of level of segregation of hazardous and non-hazardous waste were 65.4% (n=66). Health care staff aware of mode of health care waste transportation was 65.7% (n=65) and its disposal was 80.8% (n=80). CONCLUSION: Awareness regarding biomedical waste management was satisfactory in health care staff but when compared amongst themselves it was better in doctors, nurses and administrative staff and less in para medical and housekeeping staff.

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