Assessment of knowledge and Attitude regarding Biomedical Waste Management among Class IV Employees

Introduction: The hospital sector has gone through a revolutionary change in the process of health care delivery and has emerged into a complex multidisciplinary system. This sector utilizes an array of items in the process of delivering health care and leaves behind unusable waste which has to be handled and disposed with utmost care. Since the class IV employees are directly involved in biomedical waste management, they should have good knowledge and attitude regarding the management of biomedical waste. Methods: This study was conducted among 100 class IV employees at General Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding biomedical waste management. Purposive sampling was adopted for the study. Knowledge questionnaire and attitude rating scale were used as research instruments. Results: The results showed that majority (73%) of subjects had average knowledge regarding biomedical waste management and 99% of subjects had favorable attitude towards biomedical waste management. There was statistically significant (p<0.05) association between knowledge score and number of person who attended the class previously. Conclusion This study revealed that although the attitude about biomedical waste management was high among the class IV employees, the knowledge was comparatively low. There is a great need for continuing education and training programmes to be conducted for health workers.