Descriptive Study to Assess the Knowledge of B.Sc. Interns Regarding Biomedical Waste Management in Selected Colleges of Nursing, Punjab

International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD)
Volume 8 Issue 2, March-April 2024 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470
@ IJTSRD | Unique Paper ID – IJTSRD64667 | Volume – 8 | Issue – 2 | Mar-Apr 2024 Page 352
Descriptive Study to Assess the Knowledge of B.Sc. Interns
Regarding Biomedical Waste Management in
Selected Colleges of Nursing, Punjab
Rizwan Khan, Gurpreet Brar, Harpreet Kaur
University Institute of Nursing, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), Jalalabad, Punjab, India
ABSTRACT
Material and Method: A descriptive research approach and design
was used to assess knowledge of B.Sc. Nursing Interns. A total
sample of 150 students was taken through the research study. Self
structured questionnaire was used for collection of data. The data was
collected by adopting a purposive sampling technique. Descriptive
and Inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. The findings
of present study revealed that out of 150 subjects, 68.66% of the
subjects have adequate knowledge and 31.33% of the subjects have
inadequate knowledge. Study concluded that majority of students
were having good knowledge about Biomedical Waste Management
Results: 68.66% subjects of the study were having adequate
knowledge and 31.33% subjects of the study were having indequate
knowledge regarding Biomedical Waste Management. B.Sc.Nursing
students studying in government colleges of nursing have higher
knowledge (73.33%) than students studying in private college of
nursing (61.66%).
Conclusion: Most of the B.Sc. Nursing Interns studying in nursing
colleges of Punjab is having adequate knowledge about Biomedical
Waste Management. Majority of subjects studying in private colleges
of nursing are having adequate knowledge. The study included total
of 60 subjects from private college of nursing, out of which 37
subjects have adequate knowledge and rest 23 subjects have
inadequate knowledge regarding Biomedical Waste Management.
KEYWORDS: Assess, Biomedical Waste, Knowledge, Management,
Nursing Student
How to cite this paper: Rizwan Khan |
Gurpreet Brar | Harpreet Kaur
"Descriptive Study to Assess the
Knowledge of B.Sc. Interns Regarding
Biomedical Waste Management in
Selected Colleges of Nursing, Punjab"
Published in
International Journal
of Trend in
Scientific Research
and Development
(ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-
6470, Volume-8 |
Issue-2, April 2024,
pp.352-356, URL:
www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd64667.pdf
Copyright © 2024 by author (s) and
International Journal of Trend in
Scientific Research and Development
Journal. This is an
Open Access article
distributed under the
terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (CC BY 4.0)
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
INTRODUCTION AND NEED OF THE STUDY
Health care waste is a unique category of waste by the
quality of its composition, source of generation, its
hazardous nature and the need for appropriate
protection during handling, treatment and disposal.
Mismanagement of the waste affects not only the
generators, operators but also the common people
too.1
The waste management is one of the important public
health measures. If we go into the historical
background, before discovery of bacteria as cause of
disease, the principle focusof preventive medicine and
public health has been on sanitation. The waste
produced in the course of health care activities carries
a higher potential for infection and injury than any
other type of waste. Therefore, it is essential to have
safe and reliable method for its handling. Inadequate
and improper handling of health care waste may have
serious public health consequences and a significant
impact on the environment. Appropriate management
of health care waste is thus a crucial component of
environmental health protection. It shouldbecome an
integral part health care service.2
Hospital is a place of almighty, a place to serve the
patient. Since beginning, the hospitals are known for
the treatment of sick persons but we are unaware
about the adverse effects of the garbage and filth
generated by them on human body and environment.
Now it isa well established fact that there are many
adverse and harmful effects to the environment
including human beings which are caused by the
“Hospital Waste” generated during the patient care
IJTSRD64667

International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
‘Bio-medical waste’ (BMW) means any solid and/or
liquid waste including its container and any
intermediate product, which is generated during the
diagnosis, treatment or its hazardous nature and the
need for appropriate protection during handling,
treatment anddisposal.3
The hospital waste like body parts, organs, tissues,
blood and body fluids along with soiled linen, cotton,
bandage and plaster casts from infected and
contaminated areas arevery essential to be properly
collected, segregated, stored, transported, treated and
disposed of in safe manner to prevent nosocomial or
hospital acquired infection.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Quantitative non-experimental Descriptive research design was adopted to conduct a study in selected colleges
of nursing (university college of nursing,Faridkot, dashmesh college of nursing, Faridkot, Adesh college of
nursing, Shri Muktsar sahib, and university institute of nursing, jalalabad) in Punjab . Using purposive sampling
technique, 150 samples were enrolled. Permission was taken from the institute, and ethical clearance was
obtained from the ethical committee, UION, jalalabad. A self-prepared questionnaire was developed to collect
the data from samples. Analysis of data was done in accordance with the objectives laid down for the study
using descriptive and inferential statistics in SPSS.
RESULT
Table 1: Demographic profile of subjects
N=150
S.
No.
Variables Frequency
Percentage
distribution
1 Age (in years) of subject
a) 20-21 28 18.66%
b) 21-22 60 40%
c) 22-23 53 35.33%
d) 23-24 9 6%
2 Sex of subject
a) Male 29 19.33%
b) Female 121 80.66%
3 Residence of subject
a) Rural 63 42%
b) Urban 58 58%
4 Whether the institute of nursing is
a) Government 90 60%
b) Private 60 40%
5
Whether the subject has attended any seminar or
conference related to Biomedical Waste Management
a) Yes 55 36.66%
b) No 95 63.33%
Table 1 shows Maximum 40% participants were in the age group (in years) of 21 to 22, followed by 35.33% in
22 to 23, 18.66% in 20 to 21, .Among the subjects, 80.66% were female and 58% were residence of rural area. A
total of 63.33% subjects never attended any seminar or conference related to biomedical waste management.
TABLE 2 : Frequency and percentage distribution of subjectsaccording to sex of the subjects.
N=150
Sex of the subject Frequency Percentage distribution
a) Male 29 19.33%
b) Female 121 80.66%

Figure 1 : Frequency and percentage distribution of subjects according tosex of the subjects.
Table-2 and Figure-1 shows that 19.33% of subjects under study are Male and 80.66% of subjects under study
are Female. It was concluded that majority of students areFemales i.e., 80.66%.
Table-3: Frequency and percentage distribution of subjectsaccording to the Institute of nursing.
N = 150
Institute of Nursing Frequency Percentage distribution
a) Government 90 60%
b) Private 60 40%
Table-3 shows that 60% of the subjects under study belong to Government college of Nursing and 40% of the
subjects under study belong to Private college of Nursing. It was concluded that majority of students belong to
Government collegeof Nursing i.e., 60%.
Tabe- 4: Frequency and percentage distribution of subjectsaccording to the attending of the seminar
or conference related toBiomedical Waste Management.
N = 150
Whether the subject has attended any seminar
orconference related to BMW Management
Frequency Percentage distribution
a) Yes 55 36.66%
b) No 95 63.33%
Table-4 shows that 36.66% of the subjects have attended any seminar or conference related to BMW
Management and 63.33% of the subjects have not attended any seminar or conference related to BMW
Management. It was concluded thatmajority of students have not attended any seminar or conference related to
BMW Management i.e., 63.33%.
TABLE -5: Measures of knowledge score of subjects.
N = 150
Area
Maximum
score
Maximum
score obtained
Minimumscore
obtained
Mean Median Mode
Standard
deviation
Knowledge 35 32 9 24.99 26 25 3.767

Table -6: Frequency and percentage distribution of knowledge score of B.Sc. Nursing Interns of
selected Private and Government colleges of Nursing, Punjab.
N= 150
Level Frequency of Government Interns Percentage Frequency of Private Interns Percentage
Adequate 66 73.33% 37 61.66%
Inadequate 24 26.66% 23 38.33%
Fig-2: Frequency and percentage distribution of knowledge score of B.Sc. Nursing Interns
Table-6 and Figure 2 :depicts that 73.33% (above mean of 24.99) of nursing students of government colleges
are having adequate knowledge and 26.66% (below mean of24.99) of nursing students of government colleges
are having inadequate knowledge ; 61.66%(
above mean of 24.99 ) of nursing students of private colleges are
having adequate knowledge and 38.33% (below mean of 24.99) of nursing students of private colleges are
having inadequate knowledge.
MAJOR FINDINGS OF THE STUDY:
 The highest attained score is 32 and lowest
attained score is 09, mean is 24.99, median is 26,
mode is 25 and standard deviation is 3.767. The
knowledge score above the mean wasconsidered
as criteria for adequate knowledge and below the
mean score was considered as criteria for
inadequate knowledge. Among 150 subjects, 103
(68.66%) subjects were found to have adequate
knowledge and 47 (31.33%) subjects were found
to have inadequate knowledge about Biomedical
Waste Management.

 Majority of subjects studying in government
colleges of nursing are having adequate
knowledge. The study included total of 90
subjects from government college of nursing, out
of which 66 subjects have adequate knowledge
and rest 24 subjects have inadequate knowledge
regarding Biomedical Waste Management
 Majority of subjects studying in private colleges
of nursing are having adequate knowledge. The
study included total of 60 subjects from private
college of nursing, out ofwhich 37 subjects have
adequate knowledge and rest 23 subjects have
inadequate knowledge regarding Biomedical
Waste Management.
The comparison of government andprivate college
reveals
The comparison of knowledge of subjects studying
in government and private college ofnursing reveals
 Mean knowledge score of government college
students is 25.73 which is more than total mean
24.99 where as mean knowledge score of private
college students is 23.88 which is less than total
mean.
 Majority of government college students have
adequate knowledge i.e., 73.33% students
whereas in private college 61.66% students have
adequate knowledge.
 In government college of nursing, 26.66% of
students have inadequate knowledge whereas in
private college of nursing 38.33% of students
have inadequate knowledge.
 Standard deviation of government college
students is 3.01 and that of private college
students is 4.51.
DISCUSSION:
This part of the chapter deals with decision of findings
of present study in accordance with objectives of
research problem. These findings of study are
discussed with references of results observed by other
investigators.
Analysis of the data regarding first objective, to assess
the knowledge of B.Sc. Nursing Interns regarding
Biomedical Waste Management in selected colleges
of nursing, Punjab. The findings of present study
revealed that out of 150 subjects , 68.66% of the
subjects have adequate knowledge and 31.33% of the
subjects have inadequate knowledge. Study
conducted by Arora Lalita and Agarwal Sunita
(2001)4 revealed that the knowledge , attitude and
practice of university students of Jaipur regarding
Biomedical Waste Management was low, less
favourable and co-relation between knowledge and
attitude was not found but significant relation was
found between knowledge and practice. This shows
thatthe above study lies in contrast with our present
study as since then there is significant increasein the
knowledge and practice standards of students studying
in different colleges of nursing.
Analysis of data regarding second objective, to
compare the knowledge of B.Sc. nursing interns of
selected private and government colleges of nursing in
Punjab. The study revealed that among the 90 students
of government college of nursing, 66 have adequate
knowledge and 24 have inadequate knowledge while
those among the 60 students of private college of
nursing , 37 have adequate knowledge and 23 have
inadequate knowledge. The study done by
P.Hanumantha Rao(2008)5 revealed that awareness
of bio-medical waste
management rules was better among government
hospital staff in comparison with private medical
practitioners. This shows that above study lies in
contrast with our present study as since then private
colleges of nursing have done great workin enhancing
their knowledge as the difference achieved between
the knowledge score is much less than the previous
study.
Findings of our study also revealed that knowledge of
students belonging to age group (21-22) is higher
than other age groups taken under study. The students
who reside in rural areas have more knowledge than
those residing in urban areas.
REFERENCES
[1] Kumar P.V.A.G, Kapate R et al, Knowledge,
Attitude, and Practices of Health Care Waste
Management amongst Staff of Nursing Homes
of Gulbarga City. Journal of Pharmaceutical
and Biomedical Sciences. 2012; 19(19)1-3.
[2] Sharma A.K. Biomedical Waste (Management
and Handling) Rules. First edition. Bhopal.
Suvidha Law House. 12.
[3] Bio-Medical Waste (Management and
Handling, 1998) Rules. New Delhi:
Government of India Publications; 1998.
Ministry of Environment and Forests
Notification; pp. 276–84.
[4] Rao. P. Hanumantha. Hospital Waste
Management-awareness and practices : a study
of three states in india. SAGE Journal. 2008;
26(4): 297-303.
[5] Arora Lalita, Agarwal Sunita. Knowledge,
attitude and practices regarding waste
management in selected hospital students of
University College of Rajasthan, Jaipur.
International Journal of Chemical, Environment
and Pharmaceutical Research. 2011: 2(6):
49(6)245-7.

Descriptive Study to Assess the Knowledge of B.Sc. Interns Regarding Biomedical Waste Management in Selected Colleges of Nursing, Punjab

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Descriptive Study to Assess the Knowledge of B.Sc. Interns Regarding Biomedical Waste Management in Selected Colleges of Nursing, Punjab