Challenges of Achieving Green Hospital Criteria: A Mixed Method Research in Iran

Green Hospital is a concept that protects the environment from destructive human actions. It has emerged to achieve the goals of sustainable development, following the world wars, the industrial revolution, and the increment of environmental destruction. Further, Hospitals have moved towards the implementation of green hospital criteria according to their social responsibilities. This study aimed to investigate the challenges of achieving green hospital indicators.

The present study was conducted as a Mixed Method (quantitative and qualitative) in a military, educational, and selected reference hospital in Tehran in 2016. The first phase was quantitative which was performed based on collected information through translated checklists and initial hospital statistics. In the second phase, qualitative information was obtained by using semi-structured interviews with 10 hospital employees working in the fields related to the green hospital, Finally. the data were analyzed with EXCEL and ATLAS.ti software (Version 7) by utilizing central criteria (quantitative) and conventional content analysis (qualitative).

Based on quantitative findings of the checklist, the rate of compliance with the Green Hospital criteria was 56.8 percent. In the qualitative phase, the main challenges of the hospital were divided into two main categories (Internal and External factors) and 7 sub-categories, including the challenges of human resources, organizational and managerial, technical, financial, laws and foreign issues, cultural, and factors related to the organization's clients.

Based on the identified challenges, hospitals should work with external collaboration on educating and cultivating the clients and staff, amending government laws, modifying management thinking against environmental issues, and prioritizing these issues to pave the way for achieving green hospital criteria.