Awareness and practice of medical waste management among healthcare providers in National Referral Hospital

INTRODUCTION: The management and treatment of Medical Waste (MW) are of great concern owing to its potential hazard to human health and the environment, particularly in developing countries. In Bhutan, although guidelines exist on the prevention and management of wastes, the implementation is still hampered by technological, economic, social difficulties and inadequate training of staff responsible for handling these waste. The study aimed at assessing the awareness and practice of medical waste management among health care providers and support staff at the National Referral Hospital and its compliance with the existing National guidelines and policies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted from March to April 2019. Three research instruments were developed and used; (i) Demographic questionnaire, (ii) Awareness questions, and (iii) the Observational checklist. The data was coded and double entered into Epi data version 3.1 and SPSS version 18 was used for analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to present the findings of the study. RESULTS: The majority of the respondents were female (54.1%) with a mean age of 32.2 (±7.67) years, most of whom have not received any waste management related training/education (56.8%). About 74.4% are aware of medical waste management and 98.2% are aware on the importance of using proper personal protective equipment. Only 37.6% knew about the maximum time limit for medical waste to be kept in hospital premises is 48 hours. About 61.3% of the observed units/wards/departments correctly segregated the waste in accordance to the national guidelines. However, half of the Hospital wastes are not being correctly transported based on correct segregation process with 58% of waste not segregated into infectious and general wastes. CONCLUSION: The awareness and practice of medical waste management among healthcare workers is often limited with inadequate sensitization and lack of proper implementation of the existing National guidelines at the study site. Therefore, timely and effective monitoring is required with regular training for healthcare workers and support staff. Furthermore, strengthening the waste management system at National Referral Hospital would provide beneficial impact in enhancing safety measures of patients.