نشریه مدیریت سلامت
پیاپی 58 (زمستان 1393)

In health sector، image functions as a form of document that can convey a considerable amount of information. Employing this type of information can increase the effectiveness of the performance of medical experts. This study aimed to survey how health experts use medical images in their practice. This applied qualitative study was carried out in 1392 (2013). The study population constituted 25 medical experts from 17 disciplines in basic sciences and clinical sciences at Hamadan University of Medical Sciences. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interview and were analyzed based on the Grounded Theory approach. Participants described various advantages for using images. They considered image as a kind of document that can convey a maximum amount of information in a minimum amount of time. These experts considered images as an integral part of medical education especially in the way images can objectify various concepts. Among content and structural features، color attraction and three-dimensional structure of images as well as the attractiveness of the texts were found to be effective in practice. As the experts understand the significance of images as part of medical education and for this reason، they emphasize using them in their teaching، research، and treatment activities.

Work teams provide good platforms for efficient use of organizational capacities and they are always considered as one of the important factors in promoting productivity and increasing the employee satisfaction. This study aims at understanding the function and effectiveness of work teams at medical universities in the country. This cross sectional study was performed in 2012-2013. The population of the study was randomly selected from the deputy of medical universities, among which 13 universities were chosen. experts were interviewed through a census as. The data collection tool was the questionnaire which its validity and reliability was confirmed. The data were analyzed in SPSS 18 by the related statistical tests with significant level of α <0.05. The average membership of managers and experts of internal, academics, provincial and ministerial was 1.2±0.9, 1.2±0.8, 1.0± 0.5 and 0.2± 0.40, respectively.78.4% of the membership was with an official notice and 76.2with an invitation to the meeting's agenda, and 76.2 of a working team members stated that the present work teams have an organized approach. From the managers and experts’ point of view, the level of Deployment, evaluation, renovation and effectiveness of work teams was 0.9±3.4, 0.8±3.2, 0.9±3.4, respectively. Among Deployment level, membership frequency of managers and experts in different work teams and types of medical science universities, there was a significant difference (p=0.0140), (p=0.032). This study showed that Performance and effectiveness of team works was moderate. Suggested improve performance intervention programs should be designed and implemented.

Health sector is one of the most important sectors in the economy of any country with its products being on demand by individuals and households. This study was done in order to survey the health sector in Iran's economy using input-output analysis. In this analytical study all economic sectors in Iran were compared using input-output Technique. Ultimately, linkages, importance index, dependency degree of health sector were computed among the 18 aggregated sectors. Health sector does not have remarkable effect on other sectors because of low backward linkage. The low forward linkage has an inappropriate place in providing intermediate data. This sector has the highest degree of dependency on industry products and the lowest on the mining sector. The first sector depending on health is the health itself followed by education whereas the real estate sector has the lowest dependency on health. Having a coefficient less than one compared to other sectors, the health sector has a smaller role in inducing production processes and integrating the economy. Moreover, its motivation depends on other sectors’ motivation. Also, the end products of health sector are consumed in final demand form.

The main purpose of this article is to suggest a model to improve the portal services of private hospitals in Tehran. This research was practical and used evaluative survey research method. Research population of this evaluative survey included all of Tehran’s private hospitals having portals as well as ten top international hospital portals. Data were gathered in March 2014 using researcher-made checklist including 14 criteria and 77 index with their weight scores. Data were described using tables and graphs. Independent T test was used to statistically test the results. Research findings demonstrated that Tehran private hospital portals, except for Contact Information and Page Design criteria, in most other criteria were in inappropriate conditions. On the contrary, international hospital portals except for Page Update criterion, in most of the criteria were in desirable condition. The findings demonstrate that Iranian hospital portals should plan to cover the gap in the quality of their portals compared with those of international hospital portals.The results also indicate that any suggesting model for Tehran private hospitals should enjoy 2 levels and 4 layers.

There are several indicators to determine the level of development of a country or a region. Indicators of healthcare are among the most important indicators in every country. This applied, descriptive, cross-sectional study surveyed all countries (n=24) in Iranian development vision in 2012. In order to collect data, the database of World Bank and World Health Organization were used as references. The taxonomy technique was employed to determine the degree of development of different countries. In addition, indices were weighed by Shannon’s entropy. Finally, technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) was used to rank the countries in term of access to health sector indicators. Taxonomy technique showed that out of 24 countries under study, 10, 7, and 7 countries were developed, semi-developed, and under-developed, respectively. Shannon entropy introduced the incidence of tuberculosis as the most important indicator and the women’s life expectancy at birth the least significant indicator. According to TOPSIS, the countries of United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan ranked the first and the last (24th) in access to health services. Considering that in 1404 Iran must be the first country in the region in terms of indicators of access to health care, we recommend all planners and officials to allocate funds to overcome the shortcomings of the indicators such as health care expenditure per capita in which Iran has not been successful yet.

The rise in healthcare costs, population and technology development has led to an increased demand to consider productivity issue in hospitals and other medical centers to provide, preserve and promote public health services. The aim of this study was to analysis the productivity in hospitals affiliated to Iran and Tehran universities of medical sciences. In this study, partial and marginal productivity of each factor of production, as well as the total factor productivity changes of hospitals affiliated to Iran and Tehran universities of medical sciences were calculated using Kendrick-Kerimer and Malmquist indexes in 2006-2011. The average total of productivity changes was 1.012 which implies a decrease in productivity during the study. The rate of reduction was 1.2, mostly affected by technological efficiency changes compared with other factors. Scale efficiency changes, managerial efficiency and technical efficiency were the next effective factors. Total productivity, checked with Kendrick-Kerimer index, was affected by productivity of active bed input. Lack of knowledge on the part of hospital staff concerning the proper use of technology in patients’ treatment is the main cause of productivity loss caused by technological changes in these hospitals. Therefore, it is recommended to hold training courses for staff on the correct use of technology in diagnosis and taking care of patients.

The administrative reform is one of the means to achieve economic social and cultural policy development. Given the necessity of administrative reform monitoring, this study aimed to identify and measure the indicators of administrative reform in the medical school of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. A mixed sequential qualitative-quantitative approach was employed. The indicators of evaluation were identified through document analysis. In the first phase, 8 semi-structured interviews and the views of 5 experts were collected. Then, we used a researcher- developed checklist to evaluate the current status of the selected school. The checklist was completed through on-site visiting, observation, interview and document review which were then analyzed manually. A set of 150 indicators of administrative reform evaluation, categorized in 10 domains and 36 areas was identified. The total score of evaluation was 28%. The employment equity and payment system domain showed the highest score (55%) and the organizing of human resources domain lowest score. Given the relatively poor results of the administrative reform and the continuity of the reform in Iran development plans, we recommend accelerating the efforts of defining and implementing the administrative reform. Our developed checklist can be used by policy makers and managers.

Since Health Information Seeking Behavior (HISB) is a psychological phenomenon like every other human behavior, it seems that personal characteristics of patients affect this behavior. On the other hand, appropriate health information seeking behavior can fasten disease healing presses or their prevention. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of personal factors HISB of diabetic patients in Isfahan. A survey method was used in this research. The statistical population consisted of 6426 diabetic patients from whom 362 patients were selected by a no percentage stratified random sampling. The Longo information seeking behavior questionnaire was used to collect data and SPSS 20 were used for analyzing collected data. Independent T- test showed that there was a statistically significant difference between behavior factor in information seeking process of men and women (p< 0.001). Moreover, Spearman correlation index showed that HISB factors were directly related to educational level. This test also showed that there was a direct relationship between income and some information seeking factors. Pearson correlation index showed that there was an inverse relationship between age and most information seeking factors. Passive methods should be used in transferring health information to diabetic men, and more time and energy should be consumed in transferring information to old diabetic patients with low income and low educational level. Hence, by studying factors influencing health information seeking behaviors of diabetic patients, their required information can be transferred to them more efficiently leading to prevention of diabetes.