Environment and Interdisciplinary Development

Evaluating the Effect of Educational Intervention on Improving Hospital Waste Management (Case Study: Kamali Karaj Hospital, Alborz Province)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Farzad Nikzad 1
Maryam Larijani 1
Azadeh Mansouri 2

1 Department of Environmental Education, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

2 Kamali Medical Education Center, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran

10.22034/envj.2025.485197.1426
Abstract
Introduction: Hospital waste requires specialized and efficient management methods due to the presence of infectious, chemical, and hazardous substances that can seriously affect public health and the environment. In this context, education is recognized as an essential tool in improving the quantity and segregation of hospital waste. Environmental education aims to develop the necessary skills and attitudes to understand and respect the mutual relationships between humans, their culture, and the environment around them. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of blended learning training on personnel involved in the waste management process in terms of quantity and segregation in Kamali Hospital and to identify effective solutions in improving waste management in medical centers.
Materials and Methods: The present study is a quasi-experimental intervention with a pre-post analysis to compare the effect of a mixed-model educational intervention on the knowledge, attitude, and performance (waste generation and segregation) of personnel at Kamali Hospital, Karaj. The sample size by the full-count method consisted of 17 groups of 30 people with a total of 480 people, including personnel involved in waste generation, collection, and transportation. The interventions include a training structure using a blended learning approach that integrates both conventional and distance learning methods. The training materials are taken from the book Waste Management in Hospitals and Medical Centers (Dashti, 2024) and occupational health resources. The pre-intervention period was considered from April to September 2023 and the evaluation time after the intervention was from October20232 to March 2024. To collect information, the standard questionnaire of Sadeghi et al.'s study was used. Descriptive analysis and quantitative data were described with mean (kg/month) and standard deviation (SD). Data analysis has been done using Kolmogorov-Smirnov and t-tests, as well as Excel and Spss.12 software.
Results: The findings of this research showed that the educational intervention based on the blended method can have an effect on increasing the awareness, attitude and performance (the amount of residual and segregation) of the participants. The total amount of waste production increased from 40,638 kg per month to 34,160 kg per month after the intervention. The biggest reduction in the amount of waste is infectious, chemical, medicinal and normal respectively. He also estimated the results of improving waste separation by 26.6%.
Discussion: In the present study, the results indicated the positive effect of this educational intervention in cognitive, attitudinal and functional areas in the field of waste production and separation, which shows that an educational program with a proper-structured blended model can significantly increase the amount of waste separation. Improve waste and environmental sustainability in the hospital environment.

Keywords

Environmental Education
Blended Learning
Hospital Waste Management
Medical Training Centers
Kamali Hospital

Subjects

1.     Bannour, R., Ben Cheikh, A., Bhiri, S., Ghali, H. and Khefacha, S., 2022. Impact of Training Intervention on Health Care Waste Management among Healthcare workers: A pre-experimental study in Sahloul University Hospital. Research Squar. 2022.https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2244334/v1
2.     Charoghchian Khorasani, E., Peyman, N. and Esmaily, H., 2017. Relations between breastfeeding self-efficacy and maternal health literacy among pregnant women. Evid Based Care 2017; 6: 18–25.
3.     Chercos, D.H., Dessie, A. and Wami, S.D., 2018. Hospital waste handler’s knowledge of health care waste management at Gondar University hospital: an institutional-based cross-sectional study. Ethiop J Health Dev 2018; 32:201–211.
4.     Donnelly, R., 2006. Blended problem-based learning for teacher education: lessons learnt. Journal of Learning, Media and Technology. 31(2), 93-116.
5.     Ebrahimi, M.T., Jafarpour, A., Kamgoo, S., Aghamiri, S., Kazemi, A.B., Vahidi‑Kolur, R., et al., 2021. Quantitative and qualitative assessment of waste produced in sari hospitals. Int J Env Health Eng 2021; 10:1.
6.     Estebsari, F., Taghdisi, M.H., Rahimikhalifehkandi, Z. and Hosseini, A.F., 2017. The Effect of Students Ŕole on Parents Performance on Waste Disposal in Maragheh. Journal of Health Literacy. 2017;2(2):107-16. https://doi.org/10.18869/acadpub.jhl.2.2.107
7.     Farzadkia, M., Akbari, H., Gholami, H., et al., 2018. Management of hospital waste: a case study in Tehran, Iran. Health Scope2018; 7:21–29
8.     Garrison, R.D. and Vaughan, N.D., 2007. Blended learning in higher education: Framework principles, and guidelines. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass
9.     Graham, C.R., 2009. Blended learning models. Encyclopedia of information science and technology. United state: information science Reference. Second edition. 375-382.
10. Hwang, W.Y., Hsu, J.L., Tretiakov, A., Chou, H.W. and Lee, C.Y., 2009. Intra-action, Interaction and Outeraction in blended learning environments. Educational Technology & Society, 12 (2), 222–239.
11. Jaiswal, S., et al., 2009. Evaluating awareness regarding disposal of biomedical waste among paramedicals. J Adv Med Dent Sci Res 2019; 7: 5–8.
12. Javadzade, H., et al., 2020. Investigation of psychological factors based on health belief model and health literacy on adult selfmedication in Bushehr province. J Health Liter 2020; 5: 39–49.
13. Jonidi, A., Bahari, N. and Nowroozi, A.A., 2022. Quantitative Evaluation of Medical Waste and Their Sterilization Equipment in Hospitals of Iran University of Medical Sciences in 1394. J Health Res Commun 2022; 5 (1) :15-26
14. Logeshwaran, J., Adhikari, N., Joshi, S.S., Saxena, P. and Sharma, A., 2022. The deep DNA machine learning model to classify the tumor genome of patients with tumor sequencing. International Journal of Health Sciences.6(S5), 9364–9375. https://doi.org/10.53730/ijhs.v6nS5.10767
15. Moslinjad, L., Alipour, A., Zandi, B., Zare, H. and Shabiri, M., 2010. Presentation of a combined education program and its psychological effects on students, Jahrom University of Medical Sciences Quarterly, 53-62, (1)
16. Pepin. J., et al., 2014. Evolution of the global burden of viral infections from unsafe medical injections, 2000–2010. PLoS One 2014; 9: e99677.
17. Rezaei, A., 2017. The place of separation from source in hospital waste management, Mashhad cycling Organization, 4th National Waste Management Conference, May 23, 2017.
18. Sadeghi, S., Asadi, Z.S., Rakhshani, T., Mohammadi, M.J. and Azadi, N.A., 2020. The effect of an educational intervention based on the Integrated Behavior Model (IBM) on the waste separation: A community-based study. Clinical Epidemiology and Global Health. 2020;8(2):576-80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cegh.2019.12.006
19. Siuki, H.A., Peyman, N., Vahedian-Shahroodi, M., et al., 2019. Health education intervention on HIV/AIDS prevention behaviors among health volunteers in healthcare centers: an applying the theory of planned behavior. J Soc Serv Res 2019; 45: 582–588.
20. Tchobanoglous, G. and Kreith, F., eds. 2002. Handbook of Solid Waste Management. 2nd ed. New York: McGRAW-HILL. https://www.accessengineeringlibrary. com/content/book/9780071356237
URL: http://jhc.mazums.ac.ir/article-1-357-fa.html
21. Van Alten, D.C., Phielix, C., Janssen, J. and Kester, L., 2020. Effects of flipping the classroom on learning outcomes and satisfaction: a meta-analysis. Educational Research Review, 28, 100281 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2019.05.003.
22. World Health Organization. Health-care Waste. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2018.
23. World Health Organization. Safe management of wastes from healthcare activities, 2012. Available from: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/ medicalwaste/wastemanag/en/. Accessed November 14, 2013.
24. Yaghoubi, R., Teymourzadeh, E., Ghanizadeh, G. and Zaboli, R., 2020. “Survey on Key Indicators of the "Green Hospital" in a Selected Military Hospital”, Journal of Military Medicine, 22(4), 401- 409.2020
25. Yeh, F.Y., Tran, N.H., Hung, S.H. and Huang, C.F., 2021. A study of environmental literacy, scientific performance, and environmental problem-solving. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education. 2021:20(4)1-23.
Environment and Interdisciplinary Development
Volume 10, Issue 90
Autumn 2025
Pages 1-14

Home

Submit Manuscript

Contact Us