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| Year : 2017 | Volume
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| Issue : 1 | Page : 70-71 |
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| Knowledge and practice of biosafety precautions in a developing tertiary care institute of North India |
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Anju Dubey1, Atul Sonker2
1 Department of Transfusion Medicine, T. S. Misra Medical College and Hospital, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
2 Department of Transfusion Medicine, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
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| Date of Web Publication | 22-Feb-2017 |
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How to cite this article:
Dubey A, Sonker A. Knowledge and practice of biosafety precautions in a developing tertiary care institute of North India. Asian J Transfus Sci 2017;11:70-1 |
How to cite this URL:
Dubey A, Sonker A. Knowledge and practice of biosafety precautions in a developing tertiary care institute of North India. Asian J Transfus Sci [serial online] 2017 [cited 2023 Feb 2];11:70-1. Available from: https://www.ajts.org/text.asp?2017/11/1/70/200776 |
Sir,
Health-care personnel are exposed to a variety of occupational health hazards while handling biological material and contaminated equipment. The basic concept of biosafety is to promote safe laboratory practices and procedures as well as cautious use of containment equipment and facilities by laboratory workers for their protection. We conducted a study after obtaining ethical clearance to assess the level of knowledge and practices regarding biosafety as well as for biomedical waste disposal among the health-care personnel of developing a tertiary health-care institute of North India.
This was a questionnaire-based study which included 44 medical faculty members, 24 resident doctors, and 56 nurses. There were twenty multiple choice questions on knowledge and ten questions on practice of biosafety measures. The structured questionnaire was based on the World Health Organization Laboratory biosafety manual and Centers for Disease Control: Perspectives in Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Update,[1],[2] and validation was conducted by a pretesting on ten members who were representatives of each group of the study population. The individual scores were calculated as percentage of correct responses.
The knowledge score of participants is summarized in [Table 1] and practice scores are summarized in [Table 2]. The consultant doctors had highest mean knowledge score of 75.1. Their mean practice score was 64.3. The resident doctors had a lower mean knowledge score of 59.8, but highest practice score (mean score 70.8). Both knowledge (mean score 36.8) and practice score (mean score 52.3) were lowest for the nurses.
Several studies have been conducted in the past which have observed gross deficiencies in the knowledge, attitude, and practice of health-care workers regarding biosafety and proper waste disposal.[3],[4] Results of this study also confirmed a lack of awareness regarding biosafety practices among the health-care personnel at our institute, especially the nursing staff.
In developing countries like India, issues pertaining to occupational biohazards are still not given adequate attention by both employers and employees. This study has important biosafety implications, and results helped us in framing awareness and educational material for subsequent training programs through targeted CMEs and lectures. We emphasized the importance of vaccination and thereafter all the staff got vaccinated for hepatitis B.
Subsequently, an institutional biosafety committee was also formed which aimed to control and record nosocomial infection as well as accidents, develop relevant SOPs, encourage the use of protective equipment by health-care personnel and ensure proper specimen collection, processing and infective waste disposal as per the guidelines.
It is recommended that biosafety should be a part of the overall quality assurance program in every hospital.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
 References | |  |
| 1. | Laboratory Biosafety Manual. 3 rd ed. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2004.  |
| 2. | Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Update: universal precautions for prevention of transmission of human immunodeficiency virus, hepatitis B virus, and other bloodborne pathogens in health-care settings. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 1988;37:377-88. |
| 3. | Wader JV, Kumar V, Mutalik AV. Knowledge, attitude, practice of biosafety precautions amongst laboratory technicians in a teaching hospital. Int J Health Sci Res 2013;3:28-33. |
| 4. | Aksoy U, Ozdemir MH, Usluca S, Toprak Ergönen A. Biosafety profile of laboratory workers at three education hospitals in Izmir, Turkey. Mikrobiyol Bul 2008;42:469-76. |
Correspondence Address:
Anju Dubey
Department of Transfusion Medicine, T. S. Misra Medical College and Hospital, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0973-6247.200776
[Table 1], [Table 2] |
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| This article has been cited by | | 1 |
Impact of Educational Intervention on Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Laboratory Technicians regarding Universal Work Precautions at a Tertiary Health Care Center in Central India |
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| Abhishek Mehta, Manish Kr. Diwakar | | Applied Biosafety. 2020; : 1535676020 | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | |
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