Abstract

Assessment of Awareness of Bio-medical Waste Management among Health Care Personnel in Omdurman Teaching Hospital in March 2020

Introduction: Biomedical waste issue is very important as any health issues because the impact of this problem affect not only health workers but also general community and because of the seriousness of the problem, health care workers as the first line of defense must have a proper knowledge about this issue and their awareness about how to deal with it should be assessed. This research was conducted to assess biomedical waste management among health care personnel in Omdurman teaching hospital.

Objective: The objective of the study was to know the awareness and existing knowledge about biomedical waste management among health care personnel in Omdurman teaching hospital, Khartoum, Sudan.

Methodology: The methodology was cross-sectional descriptive based on case study. Data was collected from 244 participants (doctors, nurses, laboratory technicians and waste handlers) by use of self-administered questionnaire and interview-based questionnaire. Results: The results showed that there is average knowledge and awareness regarding Biomedical waste management and colour coding system. Of the participants 10.7% received training about biomedical waste management.

Conclusion: In conclusion, health care personnel had average knowledge about biomedical waste management with lack of workshop about it, the practice of discarding sharp waste and usage of personal protective equipment is good but with little lower percentage within laboratory technicians. Needle stick injuries were very high among almost half of the participants and their response toward it was very poor.

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