Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) about biomedical waste management among hospital staff– A crossectional study in a tertiary care hospital, Andhra Pradesh, India

Introduction: Hospitals produce waste, which is increasing over the years in its amount and type. Hospital waste is a special category of waste which needs to be handled appropriately with precautions because in addition to the risk for patients and personnel who handle them, they also pose a threat to public health and environment. Objectives: To assess Knowledge, Attitude and Practices about Biomedical waste management among staff of a tertiary care hospital, Andhra Pradesh. Materials and Methods: A questionnaire with multiple choice questions type of answers to assess the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Biomedical waste management was given to the 3 categories of hospital staff in selected high risk areas like operation theatre, laboratories, medical ward and surgical ward, casualty, outpatient departments. The staff included Nurses including O.T. Staff, Sanitary Staff and Laboratory Staff. The answers were analyzed using Percentagesand Chi-square test. Results: The knowledge was significantly better among the nurses while it was poor among the sanitary staff. Conclusions: It is important to improve the knowledge regarding Bio-medical waste among all levels of hospital staff because this forms the foundation for effective and proper Bio-Medical waste management. Keywords: Bio-medical waste management, KAP, Tertiary care hospital, Andhra Pradesh.