Fuzzy Clustering of Medical Sciences Universities in Iran on the Basis of Medical Indices in 2008

Prescribing and consuming drugs on a standard base is an important undertaking in health organizations. Achievements in promoting quality standards in prescription and drug consumption have decreased the related indices in Iran. This study focused on identifying homogenous groups among universities of medical sciences in terms of social infrastructure, economic differences and cultural climate dominating different regions. Homogenous clusters were obtained on the basis of drug prescription indices using fuzzy clustering method among universities of medical sciences in 2009. Data were analyzed by R software for 30 medical universities. Medical universities were divided into 4 clusters by fuzzy clustering method. Each cluster had elements appearing to have similarities in terms of the indices under the study. Among these clusters, the fourth cluster belonged to Golestan province with the highest average prescription in the provinces under the study. The findings of the study suggest that Golestan province requires a change in the culture of drug prescription and consumption.