INTRODUCTION:

“Biomedical waste means the waste which is originated by the diagnosis, treatments, immunization or in research activities pertaining thereto or in production or testing of biological.¹

The pioneer of modern Nursing, Miss. Florence Nightingale told that health is connected with the environmental factors like pure air and water, efficient drainage, cleanliness and light especially direct sunlight. Miss. Nightingale notes published in 1860 admonished nurses to “put the client in best condition for nature to act upon him” giving importance to environment.²

Hospital is a place, where people get treated, cured and returns home a happier lot. A healthy atmosphere is very important for the hospital. This can be done by maintaining proper hygiene in the hospital and proper disposal of hospital waste. If these aspects are neglected then it could pose potential risk not only to the staff and patients but to the public at large as well.³

Hospital is a type of organization which provides comprehensive care to the community. In the process it generates lots of waste which is hazardous to the very community to which hospital is supposed to serve.⁴

As all are aware, hospital generate waste which is chemically hazardous, infectious and often radioactive, because of inappropriate disposal of hospital waste can be very hazardous particularly when they mixed with the municipal solid waste, This leads to higher degree of environmental pollution apart from posing public health risk, which may spread infectious diseases like HIV and AIDS, Hepatitis BandC, Cholera etc., Bad attitudes, ignoring by the hospital staff, patients and the public at large. In General hospital hygiene is a pre requisite for good medical waste management.⁴

Hospital waste management has got its own specific and is more complex because the waste materials generated here are dangerous along with common hazards like chemical, radioactive and pathogenic waste. In appropriate infective waste disposal attitudes and fear of AIDS, HBSAG and HCV have drawn international attention to bio medical waste management attitudes.⁵

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

“A Study to Assess the Knowledge and Practice among BSc Nursing 3^rdYear Students, on Biomedical Waste Management in Kalinga Institute of Nursing Sciences, KIIT Deemed to Be University, Bhubaneswar.’’

OBJECTIVES:

1. To assess the knowledge level of BSc Nursing 3rd year students on BMW management.

2. To assess the level of Practice of B.Sc. Nursing 3rd year students on BMW management.

3. To find out the Association between level of knowledge and Practice among B.Sc. Nursing 3^rd year students on BMW management with their selected demographic variables.

ASSUMPTIONS:

· The study assumed that students have some knowledge regarding Bio Medical Waste management.

· Students are practice the correct method of Bio Medical Waste management.

HYPOTHESIS:

H_{1 –}There is a significant association between levels of knowledge among B.Sc. Nursing 3rd year students on BMW management.

H_{2 –}There is a significant association between levels of practice among B.Sc. Nursing 3^rd year students on BMW management.

METHODOLOGY:

RESEARCH APPROACH:

A Quantitative research approach was considered to be the most appropriate for the present study as it aimed at assessing the knowledge, and practices of BSc nursing 3^rdyear students on BMW.

RESEARCH DESIGN:

The research design for this study was Non-experimental Descriptive research design.

SETTING OF THE STUDY:

The present study was conducted on BSc nursing 3^rd year students of Kalinga institute of nursing science (KINS) KIIT University Bhubaneswar.

Population:

In this study the population was BSc Nursing 3rd year students.

Target Population:

The target population in the present study was nursing students of BSc Nursing 3rd year students.

Accessible Population:

The accessible population for the present study was nursing students of BSc Nursing 3rd year in KINS Bhubaneswar.

Variables:

In the present study the variables under study are:

i) Study Variables:

· Knowledge of students on BMW management.

· Practices of students on BMW management

ii) Demographic Variable:

· Socio-demographic variables like age, family income, source of knowledge etc.

Sample for The Study:

For the present study sample was BSc Nursing 3rd year students who were present during data collection.

Sample Size:

30 students who were satisfied the inclusion criteria and were present during the study.

Sampling Techniques:

For the present study sampling technique was Simple Random Sampling.

Sampling Criteria:

1. Inclusion Criteria:

· Student who are studying in KINS.

· Students who are between the age group of 20-23 years.

· Student who are available during data collection.

2. Exclusion Criteria:

· Students who are not willing.

· Students who are unable to read and write in English.

· Student who are were absent during data collection.

Tool:

Section A: Demographic Proforma

Section B: Structured Questionnaire for assessing the knowledge level: The result score was interpreted as follows:

· Inadequate knowledge - <50%

· Moderate knowledge - 51-75%

· Adequate knowledge - >75%

Section C: Standard Checklist: The various scores were interpreted as follows:

· Poor practices - <50%

· Average practices - 51-75%

· Good practices - >75%

ETHICAL CONSIDERATION:

· The study was approved by the Research committee and Ethical committee and a formal permission was obtained from the head of the institution.

· Written consent of each of the subjects was obtained before starting the study of selected B.Sc. Nursing 3^rd year students.

· The subjects were assured confidentiality would be maintained on information.

· The subjects were informed that their participation was voluntary, had the Freedom to withdraw from the study.

· No ethical issues confronted while conducting the study.

DATA COLLECTION:

Data collection was carried out on 1^st august 2016. Formal written permission was taken from Principal of KINS, KIIT University, and Bhubaneswar to conduct main study. Simple random sampling of 30 students was done for data collection.

PROCESS OF DATA COLLECTION:

· Prior to data collection, the investigator obtain formal permission from Principal of KINS.

· The investigator introduced themselves to the subject and establishes good rapport with them and explain about the purpose of study and its usefulness, they were assessed about the confidentiality of their responses.

· Informed consent obtained indication their willing to participate in the study.

RESULTS:

Table No: 1 Frequency and Percentage distribution of BSc Nursing 3^rd year students (n= 30)

Demographic variables	Frequency (n)	Percentage (%)
Age in year
20-21	28	93.3%
22-23	2	6.6%
Gender
Male	4	13.3%
Female	26	86.6%
Religion
Hindu	29	96.67%
Muslim	1	3.34%
Christian	0	0
Others	0	0
Family income per month
<10,000 rupees	2	6.67%
10-15,000 rupees	4	13.34%
15001-20,000 rupees	4	13.34%
>20,000 rupees	20	66.67%
Previous knowledge
Yes	27	90%
No	3	10%
Source of knowledge
Electronic media	7	23.3%
Publishing media	5	16.6%
Health care workers	16	53.3%
Relatives and Neighbours	2	6.6%

Table: 1 showing that most of the student’s age were between 20 -21years it is about 93.6%. Respondents gender is 86.6% Female and 13.3% is Male. 90% are belongs to Hindu Religion and 66.3% have family monthly income in 20,000 rupees per month. 90% of the students had previous knowledge regarding biomedical waste management and only 10% of the students didn’t have previous knowledge on biomedical waste management. In the source of knowledge majority of the students had gain knowledge from health care worker (53.3%) and electronic media (23.3%).

Graph 1: Percentage distribution of B.Sc. Nursing 3^rd year Students knowledge on biomedical waste management

Graph: 1 showing that most of the students was having moderate level of knowledge and gain knowledge regarding BMW management from Health care workers, about 53.33%.

Graph 2: Showing that most of the students were doing good practice regarding BMW management, about 66.67%.

Graph 2: Percentage distribution of B.Sc. Nursing 3^rd year Students practice on biomedical waste management

Table: 3 Association of level of knowledge among B.Sc. Nursing 3^rd year students on BMW management with their selected demographic variables (n=30)

Demographic Variables	Number (n=30)	level of <mean10.86	Knowledge ≥mean10.86	p value
Age in year				p= 3.84 X²⁼0.01 Not Significant
20-21	28	13	15
22-23	2	1	1
Gender				p= 3.84 X²⁼0.02 Not significant
Male	4	2	2
Female	26	12	14
Religion				p=3.84 X²⁼1.74 Not significant
Hindu	29	13	16
Muslim	1		1
Christian
Others
Family income per month				p=7.82 X²=3.06 Not significant
<10,000 rupees	2	2	0
10-15,000 rupees	4	2	2
15001-20,000 rupees	4	1	3
>20,000 rupees	20	9	11
Previous knowledge				p= 3.84 X²=0.49 Not significant
Yes	27	13	14
No	3	1	2
Source of knowledge				p=7.82 X²=3.2 Not significant
Electronic media	7	3	4
Publishing media	5	3	2
Health care workers	16	6	10
Relatives and Neighbours	2	2	0

Table 4: Association of level of Practice among B.Sc. Nursing 3rd year students on BMW management with their selected demographic variables (n=30)

Demographic Variables	Number ( n=30)	Level of Below mean (7.93)	Practice >= mean (7.93)	P value
Age in year				p= 3.84 X²=0.11 Not significant
20-21	28	10	18
22-23	2	0	2
Gender				p= 3.84 X² =0.16 Not significant
Male	4	1	3
Female	26	9	17
Religion				p= 3.84 X² = 2.08 Not significant
Hindu	29	9	20
Muslim	1	1	0
Christian
Others
Family income per month				p= 7.82 X² = 1.84 Not significant
<10,000 rupees	2	1	1
10-15,000 rupees	4	2	2
15001-20,000 rupees	4	2	2
>20,000 rupees	20	5	15
Previous knowledge				p= 3.84 X²=3 Not significant
Yes	27	10	17
No	3	0	3
Source of knowledge				p=7.82 X² =4.84 Not significant
Electronic media	7	3	4
Publishing media	6	3	3
Health care workers	15	4	11
Relatives and Neighbours	2	0	2

Table 3 Shows that there is no statistically significant association with the level of Knowledge at 5% level of significance (p≤0.05).

Table 4 Shows that there is no statistically significant association with the level of Practice at 5% level of significance (p≤0.05).

DISCUSSION:

(1) Characteristics of demographic variables:

Most of the students among the sample comes under the age group of 20-21years of age i.e. 93.3% and the rest 6.6% are coming under the age group of 22-23 years (6.6%). 13.3% were the male and 86.6% are females included in the study. Out of 30 samples 29(96.6%) are following Hindu religion and only 3.3% of the sample is following Muslim religion. 66.6% student’s monthly family income is more than 20,000 and only 6.6% is below 10,000 per month (rupees). 90% of the students have previous knowledge about biomedical waste management rest 10% don’t have previous knowledge on biomedical waste management. Health care workers are providing very good source of knowledge regarding biomedical waste management (53.3%) followed by electric media (23.3%) and publishing media (16.6%).

CONCLUSION:

The present study showed that the knowledge score among the nursing students regarding biomedical waste management in terms mean 40% students have adequate knowledge about BMW, 53.334% have Moderate knowledge and 6.667% have inadequate knowledge about BMW.

Maximum students doing Good practice in BMW and 30% having average practice and 6.667% having poor practices in BMW.

We want to highlight the potential need to improve the level of knowledge and practices among nursing students on BMW, and they have a key role in better in BMW. Most of the students gain knowledge from health care worker in clinical settings, so we need to improve clinical practices and teach in clinical area as well as in college.

LIMITATIONS:

· This study is limited to KINS, KIIT University Bhubaneswar.

· This study is limited to sample size of 30 samples.

· This study is limited to BSc Nursing students studying in KINS.

· This study is limited to the samples those are present at the time of data collection.

IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY:

(a) Nursing education

(b) Nursing practice

(d) Nursing Research

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Basing on the study, the investigator proposes the following recommendations for future research:

1) The study can be replicated on large samples in different setting to have a wider generalization of findings.

2) A similar study can be conducted among staff nurses or paramedical staffs.

3) A study can be conducted using other strategies, information booklet and other manuals etc.

REFERANCES:

1. Datta P, Mohi GK, Chander J. Biomedical waste management in India: Critical appraisal. J of labo physicians. 2018;10(1):6–14.

2. Nurses labs. Florence Nightingale's Biography and Environmental Theory: Study Guide.

3. Aljabre SH. Hospital generated waste: a plan for its proper management. J Family Community Med. 2002;9(2):61-65.

4. Nkechi CN, Frank AO, Ositadinma CU. (May 15th 2013). Health Care Waste Management: Public Health Benefits, and the Need for Effective Environmental Regulatory Surveillance in Federal Republic of Nigeria, Current Topics in Public Health, Alfonso J. Rodriguez-Morales. 2013.

5. Singh Z, Bhalwar R, Jayaram J, Tilak VW. An introduction to essentials of bio-medical waste management. Med J Armed Forces India. 2001 Apr;57(2):144–47.

Received on 12.01.2021 Modified on 11.02.2021

Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research. 2021; 9(2):189-194.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2660.2021.00046.6