Identification and Quantification of the Environmental Health Indicators of Hospital Kitchens in Qazvin in 2022: A Descriptive Study

Hospital foodservices are fundamental to the care provided to patients throughout their healing processes. Therefore, this study was designed to identify and evaluate the environmental health indicators in hospital kitchens in Qazvin.

This descriptive study was conducted in five different government hospitals, two private hospitals, and the Social Security Hospital of Qazvin in 2022. Data were collected by a standard structured checklist followed by observing, interviewing, and using available documents. Also, the study included 70 available food service staff that completed a standard questionnaire to assess their food safety KAP (knowledge, attitude, performance). Data were analyzed using independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Spearman’s correlation coefficient, and non-parametric Wilcoxon test.

In terms of environmental health indicators, 50% of kitchens were in good condition, 25% in average condition, and 25% in poor condition. A significant positive correlation was found between the number of employees and the status of environmental health indicators (rs=0.982, p<0.001). Moreover, only 14.3% of personnel of kitchens (10 subjects) had good food safety knowledge. Knowledge was significantly associated with work experience and level of health education (p<0.05).

It has been observed that the knowledge of the staff on hygiene and food safety is low, and kitchens are in average condition in terms of environmental health indicators. So, it is suggested to have more interventional training, control, and surveillance.