Impact of enhanced recovery pathways on patient-reported outcomes after abdominal surgery: a systematic review

INTRODUCTION

Evidence supports that enhanced recovery pathways (ERPs) reduce length of stay and complications; however, these measures may not reflect the perspective of patients who are the main stakeholders in the recovery process. This systematic review aimed to appraise the evidence regarding the impact of ERPs on patient-reported outcomes (PROs) after abdominal surgery.

METHODS

Five databases (Medline, Embase, Biosis, Cochrane, and Web of Science) were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) addressing the impact of ERPs on PROs after abdominal surgery. We focused on distinct periods of recovery: early (within 7 days postoperatively) and late (beyond 7 days). Risk of bias was assessed using Cochrane's RoB 2.0. Results were appraised descriptively as heterogeneity hindered meta-analysis. Certainty of evidence was evaluated using GRADE.

RESULTS

Fifty-six RCTs were identified [colorectal (n = 18), hepatopancreaticobiliary (HPB) (n = 11), upper gastrointestinal (UGI) (n = 10), gynecological (n = 7), urological (n = 7), general surgery (n = 3)]. Most trials had 'some concerns' (n = 30) or 'high' (n = 25) risk of bias. In the early postoperative period, ERPs improved patient-reported general health (colorectal, HPB, UGI, urological; very low to low certainty), physical health (colorectal, gynecological; very low to low certainty), mental health (colorectal, gynecological; very low certainty), pain (all specialties; very low to moderate certainty), and fatigue (colorectal; low certainty). In the late postoperative period, ERPs improved general health (HPB, UGI, urological; very low certainty), physical health (UGI, gynecological, urological; very low to low certainty), mental health (UGI, gynecological, urological; very low certainty), social health (gynecological; very low certainty), pain (gynecological, urological; very low certainty), and fatigue (gynecological; very low certainty).

CONCLUSION

This review supports that ERPs may have a positive impact on patient-reported postoperative health status (i.e., general, physical, mental, and social health) and symptom experience (i.e., pain and fatigue) after abdominal surgery; however, data were largely derived from low-quality trials. Although these findings contribute important knowledge to inform evidence-based ERP implementation, there remains a great need to improve PRO assessment in studies focused on postoperative recovery.

A comprehensive review of official discount rates in guidelines of health economic evaluations over time: the trends and roots

BACKGROUND

The question of discounting in health economics is anything but settled, so much so that a section of the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) guidelines is devoted to it.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to review the trend of the value of the official discount rates (DRs) of costs and health outcomes and their roots worldwide.

METHODS

Four methods were combined to identify official DRs over time globally. These methods included a systematic review of the HTA/pharmacoeconomic/health economic evaluation guidelines, a review of methodological documents or guidelines accessible on the websites of HTA organizations, and two separated reviews of the websites of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) and the Guide to Health Economic Analysis and Research (GEAR).

RESULTS

Our systematic search eventually yielded 339 documents from the literature, 35 links from the website of the HTA organizations, 51 documents from the website of the ISPOR, and 29 documents from the website of the GEAR. These documents referred to 48 countries over 30 years and 43 transnational guidelines over 43 years. DRs of 3% and 5% had the most frequent value. Among them, 38 countries always used an equal DR of costs and health outcomes. We categorized the rationales for selecting DRs into eight groups for the national documents and six groups for the transnational documents.

CONCLUSION

The comparability approach was the most frequent rationale for choosing the DR in national and transnational guidelines. The value of DR of costs and health outcomes ranged from zero to 10% over the years, but the most common values were 3% and 5%, mainly arising from the comparability approach chosen. Several transnational guidelines have suggested a specific DR without taking into account countries' economic conditions. It is useful to establish a specific guideline for calculating and updating the DR of the health sector in each country.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in major depression disorder treatment: an umbrella review on systematic reviews

BACKGROUND

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common mental problem and one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. SSRIs are the most commonly prescribed types of antidepressants which are called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors and used as a primary therapeutic intervention in MDD. This umbrella review aimed to assess the efficacy and tolerability of selected SSRIs.

METHODS

A systematic review on systematic reviews based on meta-analysis was conducted for head-to-head comparisons on 6 antidepressants (fluoxetine, citalopram, escitalopram, sertraline, paroxetine, and fluvoxamine) as monotherapy in the acute-phase treatment for adults with MDD. The primary outcomes included response rate and remission rate. The secondary outcome was the withdrawal rate due to any cause. All articles published on 6 electronic databases, including PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane, Web of Science, and ProQuest, until 28 August 2018, were searched and analysed.

RESULTS

Fifteen meta-analysis based systematic reviews finally met all the inclusion criteria and pre-defined outcomes were extracted. Regarding the remission rate and withdrawal rate, statistically, significant comparisons showed that escitalopram was the better choice.

CONCLUSION

The descriptive analysis of the included articles showed that generally, escitalopram was more effective than other defined SSRIs in terms of response rate, remission rate, and withdrawal rate. Keypoints This work compiles evidence from multiple meta-analyses based on systematic reviews and provides a clearer picture for assessing the efficacy of SSRIs, clarify current gaps and direction of future research in this category of antidepressants. A minority of included articles attained the high-quality rank according to AMSTAR-2. The descriptive analysis of the included articles showed that generally, escitalopram was more effective than other defined SSRIs in terms of response rate, remission rate, and withdrawal rate.

Cost-utility of new film-coated tablet formulation of deferasirox vs deferoxamine among major beta-thalassemia patients in Iran

OBJECTIVES

Thalassemia is a hereditary disease, which caused economic burden in developing countries. This study evaluated the cost utility of new formulation of deferasirox (Jadenu) vs deferoxamine (Desferal) among B-Thalassemia-major patients from payer perspective in Iran.

METHODS

An economic-evaluation through Markov model was performed. A systematic review was conducted in order to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of comparators. Because of chelating therapy is weight-dependent, patients were assumed to be 2 years-old at initiation in first and 18 years-old in second scenario, and model was estimated lifetime costs and utilities. Costs were calculated to the Iran healthcare system through payer perspective and measured effectiveness using quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). One-way sensitivity analysis and budget impact analysis was also employed.

RESULTS

The 381 studies were retrieved from systematic searching through databases. After eliminating duplicate and irrelevant studies, 2 studies selected for evaluating the effectiveness. Jadenu was associated with an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of 1470.6 and 2544.7 US$ vs Desferal in first and second scenario respectively. The estimated ICER for Jadenu compared to generic deferoxamine was 2837.0 and 6924.1 US$ for first and second scenario respectively. For all scenarios Jadenu is presumed as cost-effective option based on calculated ICER which was lower than 1 gross domestic product per capita in Iran. Sensitivity analysis showed that different parameters except discount rate and indirect cost did not have impact on results. Based on budget impact analysis the estimated cost for patients using Desferal (based on the market share of brand) was 44,021,478 US$ in 3 years vs 42,452,606 US$ in replacing 33% of brand market share with Jadenu. This replacement corresponded to the cost saving of almost 1,568,872 US$ for the payers in 3 years. The calculated cost of using generic deferoxamine in all patients was 68,948,392 US$. The increase in the cost of using Jadenu for 10% of all patients in this scenario would be 934,427 US$ (1.36%) US$ at the first year.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on this analysis, film-coated deferasirox appeared to be cost-effective treatment in comparison with Desferal for managing child and adult chronic iron overload in B-thalassemia major patients of Iran.

The efficacy and safety of oral disease-modifying therapies for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: A systematic review

Background: Although widely used, first-line injectable medicines for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) remain an issue of efficacy and adherence. Recently, new oral medications for MS have contributed to dramatic improvements in MS treatment. This study aims to evaluate the safety and efficacy of oral disease-modifying drugs (DMDs) used in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS). Methods: A systematic review was conducted on related databases including PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, and Web of Science up to April 2020. The screening of the studies and their quality assessment was carried out independently by the two authors. Results: Three studies fulfilled the predefined criteria of inclusion. One of them compared teriflonomide with subcutaneous interferon beta-1a (IFN β-1a), another compared oral fingolimod with intramuscular (IM) IFN β-1b, and the third article compared oral fingolimod with IM IFN β-1a. No eligible study was found for dimethyl fumarate (DMF). The results indicated that while the efficacy of fingolimod was more than IFN β (IM β-1a and β-1b), teriflunomide 7 mg had less efficacy than subcutaneous IFN β-1a. Regarding safety, the results indicated that the proportion of diabetic patients with adverse events (AEs) in the fingolimod group was higher than in the IFN β-1b group and the overall occurrence of AEs was similar between teriflunomide and IFN β-1a groups. Conclusion: There is evidence for the effectiveness of fingolimod in reducing annualized relapse rates (ARRs) and improving magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings, but the evidence does not support the effectiveness of teriflunomide and further studies are required to determine its efficacy. Also, fingolimod is associated with more side effects than IFN β-1b, but there is no evidence to suggest any difference in side effects between teriflunomide and IFN β-1a.

Socioeconomic status, cardiac risk factors, and cardiovascular disease: A novel approach to determination of this association

BACKGROUND

Socioeconomic inequality is one of the important issues in cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution and relation between selected cardiac risk factors, type of CVD, and the socioeconomic status (SES) in the hospitalized patients with heart disease in Isfahan, Iran.

METHODS

This analytical and cross-sectional study was conducted in Isfahan in 2013. The population consisted of all patients with CVD admitted to the public and private hospitals. The sample size was 721. Data collection was conducted through one researcher-made questionnaire with three sections: demographic, disease, and SES questionnaires. To determine the SES of the patients, the indicators of income, housing status, occupation, family size, and education were used. Data analysis was conducted in two statistical levels of descriptive and inferential.

RESULTS

69.1% of the patients were placed in the poor status, and there was no wealthy status within the subjects. The five most frequent CVDs were chronic ischemia, unstable angina, arrhythmia, congestive heart failure (CHF), and acute myocardial infarction (MI), respectively. The three highest frequent risk factors in the patients were hypertension (HTN) (47.2%), diabetes (33.6%), and hyperlipidemia (32.6%). Regression analysis of the risk factors and the type of heart disease on the SES revealed that there were statistically significant differences between patients who were smokers (P = 0.030) and those who had valve disease (P = 0.010), adjusted for age, gender, and marital status.

CONCLUSION

Our findings showed that the frequency of CVD risk factors were higher in lower SES groups and thus SES can be a strong predictor for the occurrence of the CVD risk factors as well as the CVDs.

Designing a safety management system for higher education centers

INTRODUCTION

The system of safety management in higher education centers can prevent the complications caused by harmful issues to students and bring their potential talents closer to perfection. Therefore, this study aimed to design a safety management system (SMS) in higher education centers of Iran in 2016.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study was a descriptive study of qualitative type. This study was conducted in three independent phases, including (1) evaluating theoretical concepts, (2) developing an initial system by determining the points of sharing and differentiation of the evaluated systems, and (3) validating the SMS using the Delphi technique. Consensus on opinions and identifying similarities and differences of reviewed studies have been used for qualitative data analysis, and the descriptive statistics (sum of scores and mean) by means of SPSS version 21 has been used for quantitative data analysis.

RESULTS

In the first stage, 108 indexes were identified by reviewing the studies and evaluating the SMS in the world's educational and noneducational organizations for the 12 main categories of SMS. In the Delphi phase, 83 components were identified as a key index of the SMS in higher education centers of Iran. Furthermore, the average mean of participants' views on the dimensions of the SMS for higher education centers has been 4.32, with the highest average mean of 4.59 related to the dimension of the facility and the firefighting department and the lowest mean of 4.10 for the student dimension.

CONCLUSION

The indexes presented in this study will provide a fairly complete tool for designing SMS in higher education centers, which by applying it will provide a good opportunity to improve the performance of these systems over time.

Factors Influencing Prescribing Decisions of Physicians: A Review

Background

The pharmaceutical bill is increasing at an alarming rate. The physician practice variation has a pronounced effect on healthcare spending. A number of factors can influence the prescribing behavior of physicians. The aim of this review was to identify the factors affecting the prescribing decision of physicians.

Methods

Electronic databases including Scopus, PubMed/MEDLINE CENTRAL, Cochrane Libraries and Google scholar were searched systematically for literatures on factors influencing prescribing decisions of physicians from 2000 to 2016. There was no restriction on the study designs.

Results

Thirty-three studies met the inclusion criteria from 1122 search results. A total of 33 factors were identified. The most frequent factors were patients' clinical condition, pharmaceutical industries, physician attributes, patient preference and cost of medicine.

Conclusion

Physicians' personal attributes, cost of the medicine and pharmaceutical industries' marketing and promotion strategies were mostly mentioned to influence prescribing decision. The identified factors showed that prescribing is not only geared for patient benefit, but also towards personal interest. The use of valid and reliable practice guidelines could reduce the negative impact of wide ranges of factors and promote the rational prescribing effectively.

Inputs of Iranian health system reform plan from health sector managers and policy-makers' points of view

CONTEXT

Health system reform plan refers to conducting some fundamental, systematic, and sustainable changes.

AIMS

The aim of the present study was to evaluate different required inputs of Iran Health Transformation Plan from experts' viewpoints.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

The data of this qualitative study were collected using semi-structured interviews.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

The purposive sampling method led to 18 participant selection and then they were interviewed. Interviewees were assured about confidentiality of information.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED

The thematic analysis method and MAXQDA software were employed for analyzing the data.

RESULTS

There were 4 main themes and 35 subthemes extracted including management requirements for health development plan, human resources, information resources, and financial resources. Each theme had subthemes such as "resource allocation," "development of required standards for human resources," "human resources' motivation," "failures in IT infrastructures," "hospital information management software," "guidelines and instructions," "costs controlling," and "financing the plan".

CONCLUSIONS

Results of the present study put significant emphasis on the path of improving the effectiveness and efficacy of applying the discussed inputs, which can be a light for revising past policies and taking better future steps, it also can be a resource guide for policy-makers and managers of the health-care system.

Evaluating the application of failure mode and effects analysis technique in hospital wards: a systematic review

Background:

Medical errors are one of the greatest problems in any healthcare systems. The best way to prevent such problems is errors identification and their roots. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) technique is a prospective risk analysis method. This study is a review of risk analysis using FMEA technique in different hospital wards and departments.

Methods:

This paper has systematically investigated the available databases. After selecting inclusion and exclusion criteria, the related studies were found. This selection was made in two steps. First, the abstracts and titles were investigated by the researchers and, after omitting papers which did not meet the inclusion criteria, 22 papers were finally selected and the text was thoroughly examined. At the end, the results were obtained.

Results:

The examined papers had focused mostly on the process and had been conducted in the pediatric wards and radiology departments, and most participants were nursing staffs. Many of these papers attempted to express almost all the steps of model implementation; and after implementing the strategies and interventions, the Risk Priority Number (RPN) was calculated to determine the degree of the technique’s effect. However, these papers have paid less attention to the identification of risk effects.

Conclusions:

The study revealed that a small number of studies had failed to show the FMEA technique effects. In general, however, most of the studies recommended this technique and had considered it a useful and efficient method in reducing the number of risks and improving service quality.

Insurance companies' point of view toward moral hazard incentives

Moral hazards are the result of an expansive range of factors mostly originating in the patients' roles. The objective of the present study was to investigate patient incentives for moral hazards using the experiences of experts of basic Iranian insurance organizations. This was a qualitative research. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. The study population included all experts of basic healthcare insurance agencies in the City of Isfahan, Iran, who were familiar with the topic of moral hazards. A total of 18 individuals were selected through purposive sampling and interviewed and some criteria such as data reliability and stability were considered. The anonymity of the interviewees was preserved. The data were transcribed, categorized, and then, analyzed through thematic analysis method. Through thematic analysis, 2 main themes and 11 subthemes were extracted. The main themes included economic causes and moral-cultural causes affecting the phenomenon of moral hazards resulted from patients' roles. Each of these themes has some sub-themes. False expectations from insurance companies are rooted in the moral and cultural values of individuals. People with the insurance coverage make no sense if using another person insurance identification or requesting physicians for prescribing the medicines. These expectations will lead them to moral hazards. Individuals with any insurance coverage should consider the rights of insurance agencies as third party payers and supportive organizations which disburden them from economical loads in the time of sickness.

Measuring Equity in Access to Pharmaceutical Services Using Concentration Curve; Model Development

This paper has two objectives. First, it establishes a model for scoring the access to pharmaceutical services. Second, it develops a model for measuring socioeconomic indicators independent of the time and place of study. These two measures are used for measuring equity in access to pharmaceutical services using concentration curve. We prepared an open-ended questionnaire and distributed it to academic experts to get their ideas to form access indicators and assign score to each indicator based on the pharmaceutical system. An extensive literature review was undertaken for the selection of indicators in order to determine the socioeconomic status (SES) of individuals. Experts' opinions were also considered for scoring these indicators. These indicators were weighted by the Stepwise Adoption of Weights and were used to develop a model for measuring SES independent of the time and place of study. Nine factors were introduced for assessing the access to pharmaceutical services, based on pharmaceutical systems in middle-income countries. Five indicators were selected for determining the SES of individuals. A model for income classification based on poverty line was established. Likewise, a model for scoring home status based on national minimum wage was introduced. In summary, five important findings emerged from this study. These findings may assist researchers in measuring equity in access to pharmaceutical services and also could help them to apply a model for determining SES independent of the time and place of study. These also could provide a good opportunity for researchers to compare the results of various studies in a reasonable way; particularly in middle-income countries.

Improving Five-level Triage Form According to the Experts Viewpoint; A Qualitative Study

OBJECTIVES

This study is a qualitative study being conducted in five stages at Vali-Asr Hospital of Qom in 2013. After two surveys, the experts were interviewed using focus group discussion (FDG) and study was continuing with. Data were analyzed through studying the opinions of the specialized teams' members, summarizing and classifying the data in qualitative phase.

RESULTS

Changes proposed in the triage form communicated by Iran's emergency department according to the participants' opinions include informing all the patients in the emergency department of some necessary information. Therefore, three parts of medical and medicinal history, vital signs and level of consciousness were added to the first part of the form and necessary emergency facilities were also added to the third level of triage.

CONCLUSION

Measuring each item added to the general part of the triage form provides more precise diagnosis and more scientific classification, since the level to which the patient belongs should be identified based on medical history, clinical signs and level of consciousness.

Views of health system experts on macro factors of induced demand

BACKGROUND

The probability and severity of effects of induced demand are because of the interaction between a range of factors that can affect physicians and patients behavior. It is also affected by the laws of the markets and organizational arrangements for medical services. This article studies major factors that affect the phenomenon of induced demand with the use of experts' experiences of the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences.

METHODS

The research is applied a qualitative method. Semi-structured interview was used for data generation. Participants in this study were people who had been informed in this regard and had to be experienced and were known as experts. Purposive sampling was done for data saturation. Seventeen people were interviewed and criteria such as data "reliability of information" and stability were considered. The anonymity of the interviewees was preserved. The data are transcribed, categorized and then used the thematic analysis.

RESULTS

In this study, thematic analysis was conducted, and 77 sub-themes and 3 themes were extracted respectively. The three main themes include infrastructural factors, social factors, and organizational structural factors affecting induced demand. Each of these also has some sub-themes.

CONCLUSIONS

Results of this research present a framework for analyzing the major causes of induced demand. The causes identified here include complexity of medicine, information mismatch between service providers and consumers, clinical uncertainty, false beliefs, advertisements, insufficient supervision, scarcity of clinical guidelines, weakness of education system, and ignorance of medical ethics. These findings help policymakers to investigate the induced demand phenomenon clear-sighted.

The relationship between health literacy with health status and healthcare utilization in 18-64 years old people in Isfahan

BACKGROUND

Today, much attention has been paid to the patient role as the central factor in the management of their own health. It is focused on the issue that the patient has a more critical role compared with the health-care provider in controlling the patient own health. defines health literacy as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to determine health literacy, health status, healthcare utilization and the relationship between them in 18 - 64 years old people in Isfahan.

STRUCTURE AND DESIGN

This study was a descriptive analytical survey, which was conducted on 300 subjects of 18-64 years old in Isfahan with Multi-stage sampling method proportional to selected sample size.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

For collecting the data, questionnaire adapted from CHAP (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) health literacy questionnaire was used. Health status was measured based on an assessment of the physical and mental health over the past 6 months by 5° Likert scale. Data analysis was performed by using SPSS 18, descriptive statistics, Chi-square test and multivariate analysis of variance.

RESULTS

There was no significant correlation between health literacy, health status and healthcare utilization. Utilization was less in the urban area No. 6 of the city. In the bachelor's degree group, the health status was lower than the other groups in these cases: Older ages, married, women, large family size, undergraduates, and urban area No. 14.

CONCLUSIONS

Due to the average prevalence of health literacy in 18-64 years old individuals in Isfahan and low- healthcare utilization, the followings are recommended: Necessity of more attention to the issue of health literacy, improving the physician-patient relationship and community awareness, whether through health promotion programs or media for the optimum use of available resources.

Effect of zinc supplementation in children with asthma: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial in northern Islamic Republic of Iran

There are conflicting reports about the benefits of zinc supplements in childhood asthma. This study examined the effect of zinc supplementation in children with asthma attending an outpatient clinic in Sari, Islamic Republic of Iran. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial over 8 weeks, 284 children on inhaled steroids were allocated to receive zinc supplements (50 mg/day) (n = 144) or placebo (n = 140). Cases and controls had low initial serum zinc concentrations [61.8 (SD 7.3) μg/dL and 60.9 (SD 4.3) μg/dL]. After treatment, mean serum zinc level in the case group was significantly higher [129 (SD 20.4) μg/dL] than in the controls [63 (SD 8.6) μg/dL]. There were no significant differences in IgE levels before and after treatment. The case group showed significant improvements in clinical symptoms such as cough, wheezing and dyspnoea and in all spirometry parameters (FVC, FEV1 and FEV1/FVC).

Experts' perceptions of the concept of induced demand in healthcare: A qualitative study in Isfahan, Iran

CONTEXT

One of the most important subjects in health economics and healthcare management is the theory of induced demand. There are different views about the concept of induced demand. Extensive texts have been presented on induced demand, however a compatible concept has not necessarily been provided for this phenomenon and it has not been defined explicitly.

AIMS

The main aim of this article is to understand the concept of induced demand with the use of experts' perceptions of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

The research was done using a qualitative method. Semi-structured interview was used for data generation. Participants in this study were people who had been informed in this regard and had to be experienced and were known as experts. Purposive sampling was done for data saturation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Seventeen people were interviewed and criteria such as "reliability of information" and "stability" of the data were considered. The anonymity of the interviewees was preserved.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED

The data are transcribed, categorized and then the thematic analysis was used.

RESULTS

In this study, 21 sub-categories and three main categories were derived. Three main subjects were included: Induced demand definition, induced demand elements, and induced demand methods. Each of these issues contained some sub-subjects.

CONCLUSION

The result of this study provides a framework for examining the concept of induced demand. The most notable findings include the definition of induced demand, induced demand elements, and method of induced demand. In induced demand definition, an important issue that is often overlooked is that inducing regarding to the effectiveness of clinical services and medical values can lead to better or worse outcomes for patients. These findings help the health policy makers study the phenomenon of induced demand with clear-sighted approach.

The profile of patients' complaints in a regional hospital

BACKGROUND

A hospital should be an institution of understanding and respecting patients' rights, their families, physicians and other caregivers. Hospitals and all other healthcare centers must be cautious toward respecting ethical aspects of care and treatment. On the other hand, patients' satisfaction reflects capabilities of physicians and medical staff as well as the extent patients' rights and treatment quality are observed. Nowadays, complaints handling is considered as an essential component of healthcare system in line with promoting health standards. In the present study, researchers attempt to identify the resources, individuals, complained issues, and measures which are considered to handle these issues in a regional hospital.

METHODS

We employed a descriptive, cross-sectional study to conduct this research. The research population included cases registered at the complaints unit of one of the hospitals in Isfahan in selected months of 2012 to 2013. The data were collected through observation of available documents. Excel software program was used for data analysis.

RESULTS

Findings indicate that despite a decrease in the total number of complaints, there was an increase in the number of complaints about medical staff. Nursing staff were considered as the second highly complained unit during the study period.

CONCLUSION

RESULTS obtained from the present study can be taken as experiences to modify and amend the hospital's future performance. In general, the existence of complaints in a system is an indication of gaps when providing healthcare services. Creating an organized system to collect complaints and reviewing them helps hospitals to be cognizant of their defects and plan to prevent their reoccurrence.

Efficiency improvement of dentistry clinics: introducing an intervening package for dentistry clinics, isfahan, iran

BACKGROUND

In Isfahan, the second metropolitan in Iran, there are 1448 dentistry treatment centers that most of them are inefficient. Today, efficiency is the most important issue in health care centers as well as dentistry clinics. The goal of this research is to investigate the affordability and efficiency of dentistry clinics in Isfahan province, Iran.

METHODS

The current work is a quantitative research, designed in three methodological steps, including two surveys and experimental studies, for understanding current deficiencies of Iranian dentistry clinics. First, we ran a survey. Then, we analyzed the results of the questionnaires which guided us to find a particular intervening package to improve the efficiency of the clinics. At the second step, we chose an inefficient clinic named Mohtasham (Iran, Isfahan) to evaluate our intervening package.

RESULTS

Based on what the interviewees answered, we mention the most important issues to be considered for improving the efficiency of dental clinics in Isfahan. By considering mentioned problematic issues, an intervening package was designed. This intervening package was applied in Mohtasham clinic, since June 2010. It improved the clinic's income from 16328 US$ with 4125 clients in 2010, to 420,000 US$ with 14784 patients in 2012.

CONCLUSIONS

The proposed intervening package changed this clinic to an efficient and economic one. Its income increased 5.08 times and its patient's numbers grew 4.01 times simultaneously. In other words, Mohtasham's experience demonstrates the reliability of the package and its potentiality to be applied in macro level to improve other dentistry clinics.

Electronic health indicators in the selected countries: Are these indicators the best?

BACKGROUND

Many changes have been made in different sciences by developing and advancing information and communication technology in last two decades. E-health is a very broad term that includes many different activities related to the use of electronic devices, software as well as hardware in health organizations.

AIMS

The aim of this study is comparing electronic health indicators in the selected countries and discussion on the best indicators.

SETTINGS AND DESIGN

This study has chosen 12 countries randomly based on the regional division of the WHO. The relevant numbers of health indicators and general indicators and information technology indicators are extracted of these countries. We use data from the Bitarf's comparative study, which is conducted by the Iranian Supreme Council of Information Technology in 2007.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

By using Pearson correlation test, the relations between health general indicators and IT indicators are studied.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED

Data was analyzed based on the research objectives using SPSS software and in accordance with research questions Pearson correlation test were used.

RESULTS

The findings show that there is a positive relation between indicators related to IT and "Total per capita health, healthy life expectancy, percent literacy". Furthermore, there is a mutual relation between IT indicators and "mortality indicator".

CONCLUSION

This study showed differences between selective indicators among different countries. The modern world, with its technological advances, is not powerless in the face of these geographic and health disparity challenges. Researchers must not rely on the available indicators. They must consider indicators like e-business companies, electronic data internet, medical supplies, health electronic record, health information system, etc., In future, continuous studies in this field, to provide the exact and regular reports of amount of using of these indicators through different countries must be necessary.