Abstract

Background: In accordance with the Bio-Medical Waste Rules established in 1988 in India, bio-medical waste is defined as any waste generated during the diagnosis and treatment of humans and animals, or any waste produced during the production or testing of biological materials. The management of biomedical waste has emerged as a critical issue for healthcare providers due to its increased risk of infection and injury. Insufficient understanding of proper healthcare waste handling can lead to severe health repercussions. Aims: To evaluate the level of knowledge evaluate the level of knowledge and practice about importance of biomedical waste management and prevention of hospital acquired infection among nursing students and to determine the association between level of knowledge and practice about importance of biomedical waste management and prevention of hospital acquired infection among nursing students with selected demographic variables: Materials and Methods: The methodology employed for this study was descriptive in character, for evaluating the knowledge structured questionnaire and observational checklist were used, number of subjects were 100, sampling technique of the present study is purposive sampling. Results: Reveals that in accordance to frequency and percentage of distribution of respondents according to their selected demographic variables age distribution of chi-square value is 7.04 and p-value is 0.13. Gender distribution of chi-square value is 1.96, and p-value 0.3. Academic year & course about Diploma in General Nursing & Midwifery distribution of chi-square value is 1.98 and p-value is 0.7 (Moderately significant), about Basis B.Sc. Nursing distribution of chi-square value is 3.78 and p-value is 0.7 (Moderately significant). Undergone in-service educational programme distribution of chi-square value is 1.51 and p-value is 0.8* (Highly significant). Conclusion: Majority of the respondents interpreted from the results that there exist a significant association between knowledge and practices with age, educational qualification (general and B.Sc. Nursing), it was noticeable from the findings that, majority of health team members (87%) were never exposed to any in-service educational programme regarding biomedical waste management. This fact stressed the need to spread the message through conducting in-service educational programmes at tertiary care hospital Belagavi.

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