title: A descriptive study on evaluation of bio-medical waste management in a tertiary care public hospital of North India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Proper management of Biomedical waste (BMW) generated in a healthcare facility is one of the most important functions of a healthcare worker (HCW) as its improper management not only poses risk to human beings and environment, but may also invite legal action against HCW as well as hospital administration. This study was carried out to evaluate quality of BMW management in 1100-bedded hospital attached to a tertiary care public institute in North India.
  
  
  METHODS
  A checklist, including 29 parameters related to various functions to be carried out at source of generation by a HCW for BMW management was prepared by researcher and used after validation to record observations in all the 70 areas of hospital. A total of 6 visits were made to each area and mean percentage score was calculated for each area and each category of waste management.
  
  
  RESULTS
  It was found that summated mean percentage score of 'Treatment Room of Wards', which were used exclusively by resident doctors, was significantly lower than Operation Theatres (p value: 0.033) and 'Central Waste Collection Points of Wards' (p value: 0.018) for the function of 'mutilation of recyclable waste' and it was significantly lower than all other areas (p value: 0.006 to 0.017) for the function of 'disinfection of waste'.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is concluded that more emphasis needs to be laid on 'mutilation of recyclable waste' and disinfection of waste' by HCWs especially resident doctors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hospital Administration, Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Rajiv
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Hospital Administration, Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Anil Kumar
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Arun Kumar
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
authors.affiliation: Department of Hospital Administration, Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Ashok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kumar
keywords: Biomedical waste; Disinfection of waste; Environment; Medical waste; Mutilation of recyclable waste; Segregation of waste; Waste receptacles
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