AWARENESS AND PRACTICE ON BIOMEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT AMONG HEALTH CARE PERSONNEL IN KENYATTA NATIONAL HOSPITAL.

BACKGROUND

The proper handling and disposal of Bio-medical waste (BMW) is very imperative. There are well defined set rules for handling BMW worldwide. Unfortunately, laxity and lack of adequate training and awareness in execution of these rules leads to staid health and environment apprehension.

OBJECTIVE

To assessthe awareness and practice regarding biomedical waste management among health care personnel in Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) DESIGN: A cross sectional study design.

SETTING

Kenyatta National Hospital

SUBJECTS

Doctors, Nurses and support staff who have worked in the institution for more than six months and consented were evaluated.

RESULTS

The total level of awareness on biomedical waste management among health care personnel was found to be 60%. The doctors scored 51% which was the lowest score the nurses scored 65% which was the highest score while the support staff scored 55%. As for the practices, the results showed that most of the healthcare personnel were aware of the biomedical waste management practices in the hospital with the lowest scores emerging from doctors and this shows no association between knowledge on biomedical waste management and education. When asked how they would describe the control of waste management in the institution 59% said good and 40% said fair while 1% said poor.

CONCLUSION

The present study therefore outlines the gap between biomedical waste management rules and inadequate state of execution and awareness in practice. It is recommended that enhancement be done to the already existing Hospital Infection Control Committee to supervise all the aspects of biomedical waste management. Periodical training programmes for biomedical waste handling and disposal to the staff with focus on doctors is highlighted.