Knowledge on Hospital Waste Management among Senior Staff Nurses Working in a Selected Medical College Hospital of Bangladesh

Background. Healthcare wastes include all types of wastes generated by healthcare establishments. Waste disposal problem is growing with an ever-increasing number of hospitals, clinics, and diagnostic laboratories in Bangladesh and also in Faridpur town. Aim and Objective. The outcomes of this study will contribute to increase proper waste management practice among nurses in Bangladesh. Methods. A descriptive type of cross sectional study design was used to assess the level of knowledge regarding hospital waste management among senior staff nurses working in Faridpur Medical College Hospital, Bangladesh. All respondents ( ) were selected by random sampling. Results. In the answer of knowledge about general waste only 4% ( ) gave all correct answers. In the answer of knowledge about infectious waste 63.2% ( ) gave one correct answer, of knowledge about pharmaceutical waste only 8% ( ) gave all correct answers, and of knowledge about biomedical waste only 7.2% ( ) gave all correct answers. In the answer of knowledge about color coded bins collecting waste 53.6% ( ) cannot give any correct answer and only 46.4% ( ) gave all correct answers and of knowledge about the safe disposal of hospital waste 16% ( ) could not give any correct answer. However, against all questions were 5 options. Conclusion. Knowledge about hospital waste and its management is very poor among senior staff nurses. As a recommendation to improve this situation continuous training should be made compulsory for healthcare personnel specially staff nurses working in Bangladesh. 1. Introduction Healthcare wastes pose a serious public health problem. It is essential for proper management [1]. Healthcare wastes include all types of wastes generated by healthcare establishments, research facilities, and laboratories [2, 3]. There are various estimates regarding hazardous and nonhazardous constituents of healthcare waste. According to World Health Organization (WHO) related reports and studies, around 85% of hospital wastes are nonhazardous, 10% are infectious (biologically hazardous), and the remaining 5% are toxic chemicals, pharmaceutical, and radioactive wastes [2]. This traditional estimate, however, is not consistent for many developing countries. The proportion for hazardous waste varied from country to country: Pakistan about 20%, Nigeria 26.5%, and in Sub-Saharan African countries about 2–10%. In Bangladesh, 36.03% in diagnostic centers and higher clinics; and about 50% in urban health centers of Tanzania constituted hazardous waste [4]. Healthcare service providers generally aim at