Muhammad Ahmed Abdullah, Adnan Zahid, Nargis Yousuf Sattar, Yahya Ahmad.
Awareness about biomedical waste related risks among sanitary staff of public and private hospitals in Rawalpindi.
Pak J Public Health Jan ;3(1):12-6.

Introduction: Biomedical waste includes various types of hazardous materials, which can transmit many diseases. The sanitary staff of health care facilities is at a great risk of contracting various infections as a result of exposure to different types of hospital waste. Proper knowledge about the appropriate handling of these high risk materials is imperative for risk reduction. Methods: A mix methods approach including quantitative and qualitative components was adopted. For the quantitative component, cross sectional semi-structured questionnaire based survey was conducted in one public sector hospitals of Rawalpindi (Pakistan) and around various private healthcare facilities among the 68 members of the sanitary staff working in and around these facilities from October to December 2012. The qualitative component included five in-depth interviews with the sanitary workers. Results: The knowledge of sanitary workers was found to be lacking in many aspects with regards to hazards involved with high risk waste management, waste segregation, collection, transportation, storage and disposal. Only 15 % were aware of the risk of blood borne infections through needle stick injuries. Most respondents had a casual attitude towards personal protection, and only 17% said that they always used personal protective equipment. Relevant narratives have also been included in the results section, after manual content analysis of the information provided by the respondents. Conclusion: Robust health education measures and proper periodic training schedules are the need of the hour. Provision of personal protective equipment should also be an essential part of the preventive strategy.

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