Knowledge and Practices of Biomedical Waste Management Among Health Professionals and Waste Handlers in Hospitals of Kaski Districts of Nepal.

BACKGROUND: Biomedical waste management (BWM) is an essential element of health safety and environmental protection. Government of Nepal introduced the Health care waste management guideline-2014; however, its implementation remains inconsistent. OBJECTIVE: To assess knowledge of BWM and practices of Personal protection measures and waste filled containers management in hospitals of Kaski district, Nepal. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 252 Health professionals (HP) and Waste Handlers (WH) of 14 selected hospitals of Kaski, Nepal. Participants were selected using stratified sampling. Data were collected through interview and analyzed using IBM-SPSS 22. Descriptive statistics were applied. RESULTS: Knowledge and practices were categorized based on Blooms Taxonomic classification. Only 2.2% of HP and 2% of WH had good knowledge of BWM. Majority (61.3%) of HP and WH (59.0%) had moderate knowledge while over one-third (HP-36.3% and WH-39%) had poor knowledge. Similarly, 5.3% HP and 19.2% WH had good practices; 72.7% of HP and 68.3% WH had moderate practices; and 22% HP and 12.5% WH had poor practices regarding BWM. CONCLUSION: HP and WH have considerably poor knowledge on different dimensions of BWM. Meanwhile, there was better waste management practices with WH having better practices than HP. There needs continuous knowledge enhancement, practice monitoring and motivational interventions for safety.