Knowledge and Practice of Health Care Personnel on Medical Waste Management at Primary Care Level of Northern Bangladesh

Introduction: Medical waste can be generated in hospitals, clinics and places where diagnosis and treatment are conducted. Proper management of medical waste is a great concerned issue due to association with public health risks as well as with environment. Effective management regarding medical waste is not only a legal necessity but also a social responsibility. The objective of the study was to assess the knowledge and practice of health care personnel regarding medical waste management at primary health care level of Northern Bangladesh.

Method: This descriptive type of a cross-sectional study was conducted from 250 health care personnel that included Doctors, Nursing staff, Laboratory technologists and Cleaners of eight Upazila level health care facilities of Northern Bangladesh. They were selected by Multistage sampling technique. Data were collected from the respondents through a self-administered and interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaire after taking informed consent. Finally Data analysis was done with Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 26. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: A large number of respondents (40.0%) were in the age group of more than 40 years with mean age of the respondents beings 40.06. Majority of the respondents (55.60%) were male and among the respondents majority were (26.40%) from Nurses and Laboratory technologists. Adequate knowledge regarding medical waste management found maximum (77.3%) for Nurses and minimum (18.8%) for Cleaners. Health care personnel whose service length were more than 10 years had maximum (64.2%) adequate knowledge. Relationship between training received regarding medical waste management and knowledge level showed statistically significant (p< 0.05). Health care personnel from Government health care facilities found maximum (59.9%) adequate knowledge level. Good practice for medical waste management found majority for Nurses (17.60%).

Conclusion: This study represented the actual scenario of knowledge and practice of health care personnel regarding medical waste management at primary health care level. So, it will help to make an effective plan for the concerning authority regarding proper medical waste management.

M Abdur Rahim Medical College Journal, 2023 Jul; 16(2)