International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | December 2017 | Vol 4 | Issue 12 Page 4755 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Sharma N et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2017 Dec;4(12):4755-4760 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Original Research Article Impact of educational intervention on knowledge and attitude of bio- medical waste management among health care personnel working in a tertiary care hospital of Bengaluru city, Karnataka, India Nidhi Sharma, Lalita D. Hiremath*, Sudeepa D. , Kiran Kumar H. V. INTRODUCTION Let the waste of “the sick” not contaminate the lives of “the healthy”. In the persuasion of the aim of reducing health problems, eliminating potential risks, and treating sick people, healthcare services inevitably create waste which itself may be hazardous to health. The waste produced in the course of healthcare activities carries a higher potential for infection and injury than any other type of waste. 1 Bio-medical waste (BMW) is defined as “any waste which is generated during the diagnosis, treatment or immunization of human beings or animals or in research activities pertaining thereto or in the production or testing of biologicals”. 2 BMW management is currently a burning issue more so with the increasing health care facilities and increasing waste generation. It is estimated that annually about 0.33 million tons of hospital waste is generated in India and waste generation rate ranges from 0.5 to 2.0 kg/bed/day. 3 ABSTRACT Background: The waste produced in the course of healthcare activities carries a higher potential for infection and injury than any other type of waste. Inadequate and inappropriate knowledge of handling of healthcare waste among health care personnel may have serious health consequences and a significant impact on the environment as well. Hence this study was undertaken to assess the knowledge and attitude regarding the bio-medical waste management among nurses and laboratory technicians working in our hospital and to evaluate the effect of the intervention program given to them. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted among the nurses and laboratory technicians working at The Oxford Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre, Bengaluru. An identical pre-designed and pre-tested structured questionnaire was given to them before and after the training session. Results: After the training program, a statistically significant increase in knowledge on all aspects of bio-medical waste management was found among the study participants. The attitude on all aspects related to BMW management improved among the participants after the intervention. Conclusions: All health care personnel must undergo regular training in BMW management. This should be coupled with effective implementation of rules and regular monitoring by authorities. Keywords: Knowledge, Attitude, Bio-medical waste management Department of Community Medicine, The Oxford Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India Received: 23 October 2017 Revised: 12 November 2017 Accepted: 13 November 2017 *Correspondence: Dr. Lalita D. Hiremath, E-mail: drlalita77@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20175364