To study the awareness about solid waste management rules among nursing professionals in a tertiary care hospital in India.

Background: In India, on an average, 0.5-0.99 kg/person/day general solid waste is produced which is higher (i.e. 0.1-0.49 kg per person per day) than solid waste generated in low-income nations and lower than in developed countries (1.5 kg per day). The Government of India has issued guidelines for the management of a different kind of hospital waste from time to time including Solid Waste Management (SWM) Rules in the year 2016 and is mandatorily applicable to all organizations including the hospitals. Objective: We conducted this study to assess the knowledge and awareness among nursing professionals regarding various provisions of solid waste management rules, 2016. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study done on nursing professionals across all seniority and from various specialties and super specialty departments. A pretested questionnaire comprising 20 questions was used as a study tool. Results: There were a total of 550 participants. The mean knowledge count of the respondents was 9.487273 (1.00-14.00). The mean score was 59.3% of the overall achievable score. In the subgroup analysis, respondents above 60 years of age, married, females, urban residents, nursing sisters scored better than the middle-aged professionals, unmarried, males, rural residents, and staff nurses. Conclusions: This study has given insight into various domains of SWM rules, 2016 where nurses performed well and those where considerable gaps exist. The health care workers are more aware of biomedical waste (M&H) rules, and the solid waste management rules are new to them. It is recommended that the biomedical waste management training program must include training on general solid waste management rules.

To study the knowledge about the handling of biomedical waste among health-care workers in a COVID-19 hospital setting.

BACKGROUND: The unexpected increase in COVID-19-related waste and its inappropriate disposal had blown up the threat of retransmission of this infection and adversely impacted the environment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the existing knowledge about the handling of biomedical waste (BMW) in the COVID-19 Hospital setting among health-care workers (HCWs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was a prospective cross-sectional study done for 3 months, i.e., October 2020-December 2020 among nursing professionals across all seniority posted in COVID hospital. A pretested questionnaire comprised 20 questions was used as a study tool. RESULTS: The response rate of our study was 94%. The mean age of respondents was 33.97 years, and the mean length of service was 8.32 years. The study revealed that the respondents had a mean knowledge score of 12.21 (Median 12, standard deviation 2.129 and 95% confidence interval of 11.92-12.51). CONCLUSIONS: There is consensus among the researchers/scholars that COVID-BMW hazards are much more significant than regular BMW. Therefore, its awareness among the HCWs can be a panacea for safer handling of BMW generated in COVID Hospital.

To Study the Awareness about Universal Health Precautions among Nursing Professionals in a Medical College Hospital of India.

BACKGROUND: The universal health-care precautions (UHP) aim at preventing health-care workers contact with blood and other body fluids by performing various infection control practices such as handwashing, wearing gloves and mask, safe disposal of infectious waste, and safe cleansing of used instruments. OBJECTIVE: The study was conducted to assess the knowledge and awareness among nursing professionals regarding UHPs. METHODOLOGY: It was a cross-sectional study done on nursing professionals across all seniority and from various specialties including superspecialties. A pretested questionnaire consisting of 25 questions was used as a study tool. RESULTS: There were a total of 550 respondents. The mean knowledge score of the respondents was 17.31 (range: 6-24). The mean score was 69.25% of the total achievable score. In the subgroup analysis, respondents above 60 years of age, married, females, urban residents, and nursing sisters scored better than the middle-aged professionals, unmarried, males, rural residents, and staff nurses. CONCLUSION: The study concludes important clues for further research and interventions. As the nursing professionals are learning about UHP from practical exposure rather than formal teaching, it is pertinent to address this issue through well-planned formal sessions of training workshops and lecture discussions.