Effectiveness of Virtual Teaching Tools on Knowledge and Practice of Biomedical Waste Management among Housekeeping Staff of a Tertiary Care Centre, Rishikesh

Abstract

Background: The present bio-medical waste (BMW) practices, setup, and framework explored that almost 82% of primary, 60% of secondary, and 54% of tertiary health-care facilities had no trustworthy BMW management system. This study aimed to improve the knowledge and practice of BMW management among housekeeping staff of a tertiary care center, Rishikesh. Materials and Methods: One group pre-test post-test quasi-experimental study was conducted on 139 housekeeping staff. A self-structured knowledge questionnaire and practice checklist through the interview method was used for data collection. Virtual teaching tools (video about BMW management and e-pamphlet) were developed for the study and used. Results: After the intervention, in post-test it was found that the majority of participants had excellent knowledge (111; 79.8%), some (24; 17.3%) had good, and only few (4; 2.9%) had moderate knowledge. None of the participants were found to have poor knowledge after the intervention. There is significant difference in pre-existing (15.89 ± 2.49) and post-test (21.20 ± 4.61) knowledge score, pre-existing practice (21.67 ± 2.13), and post-test (24.95 ± 2.42) practice. There was association between educations their work area with knowledge and significant relationship between work area and past training programs with practice. There is a significant correlation between pre-test knowledge and practice (p=0.00) and post-test knowledge and practice (P = 0.01). Conclusion: It is evident that a virtual teaching tool that comprises video and e-pamphlet is useful in improving the knowledge and practice of housekeeping staff on BMW management.