title: Awareness of biomedical waste management among dental professionals and auxiliary staff in Amritsar, India.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to determine awareness of biomedical waste (BMW) management policies and practices among dental professionals and auxiliary staff in a dental hospital/clinics in Amritsar, India, to inform the development of future policies for effective implementation of BMW rules.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study involved 160 staff members at the Amritsar hospital/clinics (80 dentists and 80 auxiliary staff) to whom a questionnaire was distributed regarding policies, practices and awareness relating to BMW. The questionnaire was first piloted. Completed questionnaires were returned anonymously. The resulting data were statistically tested using the chi-square test for differences between the dentists and auxiliary staff.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In respect of BMW management policies, there was a highly significant difference in the responses of the dentists, whose answers suggested far greater knowledge than that of the auxiliaries (P<0.001). Regarding BMW management practices, the dentists were significantly more aware (P<0.001) of the method of waste collection in the hospital and the disposal of various items into different colour-coded bags. As for employee education/awareness, there was a significant difference (P<0.05) between the dentists and the auxiliaries on the question regarding records of BMW maintained in the hospital and the other responses to questions on these topics had a highly significant (P<0.001) difference between the two groups in favour of the dentists.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of this study have demonstrated a lack of awareness of most aspects of BMW management among dental auxiliary staff in the dental hospital/clinics in Amritsar and a lack of awareness of some aspects among dentists who work in the hospital/clinics. The results provide the hospital authorities with data upon which they can develop a strategy for improving BMW management.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Dental Sciences and                     Research, Amritsar, Punjab, India.
authors.forename: Ramandeep S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Narang
authors.forename: Adesh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manchanda
authors.forename: Simarpreet
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.forename: Nitin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Verma
authors.forename: Sarfaraz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Padda
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003727:Dental Auxiliaries / Q000193:education; D003740:Dental Clinics / Q000458:organization & administration; D003796:Dental Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration; D003797:Dental Staff / Q000193:education; D018057:Dental Waste; D003815:Dentists; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007318:Inservice Training; D017744:Medical Waste Disposal / Q000379:methods*; D016134:Organizational Policy; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011996:Records; D018505:Waste Management / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D018057:Dental Waste; D017744:Medical Waste Disposal