Awareness of biomedical waste management among dental professionals and auxiliary staff in Amritsar, India.

Abstract

AIM: The aim of this study was to determine awareness of biomedical waste (BMW) management policies and practices among dental professionals and auxiliary staff in a dental hospital/clinics in Amritsar, India, to inform the development of future policies for effective implementation of BMW rules. METHOD: The study involved 160 staff members at the Amritsar hospital/clinics (80 dentists and 80 auxiliary staff) to whom a questionnaire was distributed regarding policies, practices and awareness relating to BMW. The questionnaire was first piloted. Completed questionnaires were returned anonymously. The resulting data were statistically tested using the chi-square test for differences between the dentists and auxiliary staff. RESULTS: In respect of BMW management policies, there was a highly significant difference in the responses of the dentists, whose answers suggested far greater knowledge than that of the auxiliaries (P<0.001). Regarding BMW management practices, the dentists were significantly more aware (P<0.001) of the method of waste collection in the hospital and the disposal of various items into different colour-coded bags. As for employee education/awareness, there was a significant difference (P<0.05) between the dentists and the auxiliaries on the question regarding records of BMW maintained in the hospital and the other responses to questions on these topics had a highly significant (P<0.001) difference between the two groups in favour of the dentists. CONCLUSION: The results of this study have demonstrated a lack of awareness of most aspects of BMW management among dental auxiliary staff in the dental hospital/clinics in Amritsar and a lack of awareness of some aspects among dentists who work in the hospital/clinics. The results provide the hospital authorities with data upon which they can develop a strategy for improving BMW management.