A Descriptive Study to Assess the Practice of Biomedical Waste Management among Staff Nurses at Base Hospital Kalmunai (North), Sri Lanka

The aim and objective of the study was to assess the practice regarding biomedical waste management among staff nurses at Base hospital kalmunai (North), Sri Lanka. A descriptive study was adopted. A total of 60nurses participated in the present study, randomly chosen from various units. An observational checklist was used for data collection after getting their informed consent. Self-made scoring system was used to categorize the participants as whether they follow the correct practice, partially correct practice or the incorrect practice. Purposive sampling technique was adopted to select the sample of the study. The result of the study concluded that the frequency and percentage distribution of level practice on biomedical waste management among staff nurses reveals that 34 (56.66 %) staff nurses were found following correct practices, 14 (23.33 %) of staff nurses were found following partially correct practices, and 12 (20 %) were following incorrect practices. The study reveals that some nurses were correctly practicing the various aspects of biomedical waste management but for some who were not found to be completely responsible for biomedical waste management in the hospital, their problems were sort out such as inadequate staff in the ward, less supervision, increase workloads, etc. It is the responsibility of the nurse to care for the environment and public health particularly in relation to the waste they produce. The importance of training regarding biomedical waste management cannot be overemphasized, lack of proper and complete knowledge about biomedical waste management impacts practices of appropriate waste disposal among staff nurses in the hospital.